Earth, Bones, and Mars
by Wittyheroine
Summary: Booth gets an intern…in the form of scrawny, annoying and blond nineteen yearold Hearst college student Veronica Mars. Veronica Mars crossover.
1. Babysitting?

EARTH, BONES, AND MARS

By Wittyheroine

_Summary: Booth gets an intern…in the form of scrawny, annoying and blond nineteen year-old Hearst college student Veronica Mars. Veronica Mars crossover. _

_A/N: What can I say? The summer heat makes me go crazy. Yet again another weird crossover. I have too much time on my hands. _

_Disclaimer: Bones and Veronica Mars are property of their respective owners. I own nothing. _

**CHAPTER ONE**

**Babysitting or???? **

"Let me get this straight," said Agent Seely Booth from his chair on the other side of his bosses' desk, "you want me to baby-sit for the entire summer?"

His boss looked at him sternly. "Baby sitting would imply that I was forcing you to watch a child," he said, "what I'm asking you to do is to train an intern."

"Okay, I could ask anyone of the other people who work here and they would say that I was babysitting," said Booth.

"You can't baby-sit a nineteen year-old," said his boss, "she's legal, so it's not babysitting."

"She can't buy a beer. It's babysitting," said Booth, leaning back in his chair, giving his boss a glare.

"Agent Booth, unless you want me to make you do three months worth of paper work instead of field work, you will do as I say," his boss said in a tone that would scare anyone into doing what he wanted, Booth included.

"Okay, okay," said Booth, straightening up, "don't get your boxers in a twist there. I'll baby-sit----"his boss was now shooting daggers at him with his eyes "—I mean I'll train your intern. But on one condition."

His boss now had a vein on his forehead that was suddenly showing and looked as though it was going to burst. "What?" he said through gritted teeth, already annoyed with Booth for not just doing his job.

"Can I at least make her get my coffee or something?" Booth asked, an impish smile on his face. "Because an intern isn't any good if to me if it can't bring me my coffee."

His boss sighed in reluctance. If that was what it would take to get Seeley out of his office, and for him to do his job, he would let Seeley make the girl get coffee. "Fine," he said, "you can make her get you coffee."

Booth smirked. "Well then, I'm all for this babysitting gig," he said and he got up out of his chair.

"It's not babysitting!" yelled his boss as Booth made his way through the door. "It's training an inter-"Booth had already made his way out of the office before his boss could finish his sentence.

Oh god, Booth thought, realizing what he had just agreed to, what have I gotten myself into? He shook his head, and then headed to his car so he could go pick up two things.

"So why are you babysitting for your boss again?" Temperance Brennan asked as they stood in the airport waiting for Booth's intern to arrive. Having her ask the question made it seem silly, and Booth realized that it was a bad idea for him to have told her.

"I'm not babysitting," said Booth, feeling that for some reason when she said it, the whole thing actually sounded embarrassing, "I'm training an intern for the FBI."

"But you used the term babysitting earlier," Brennan said pointedly.

"Look, Bones, just forget that I ever said the word babysitting," Booth said, attempting to get her to change the subject.

"Why are you so uptight about the word babysitting?" said Brennan. "It's not just a woman's job, you know. Men are just as capable of babysitting as women. I'm certain you'll do fine. You have a son after all."

"I'm not uptight about the word babysitting," Booth insisted, although even he knew he didn't sound very convincing when he said it, "I just…I just don't think she's going to appreciate it very much if I, or even you for that matter," he said shooting Temperance a look, hoping that it would help shut her up, "referred to her as a babysitting case. She is an intern that I'm training for the F.B.I., and she's not a kid."

Brennan looked at him curiously. "Just how old is she?" she said.

"Nineteen," said Booth, now wondering if he should have answered that question. He wondered just where Temperance was going to go with this.

"She can't buy a beer. You're babysitting," said Brennan, with a slight smile, clearly enjoying her partner's agony.

Booth glared at her. He was beginning to wonder if he was rubbing off on her some, because she seemed to be starting to act like him a bit lately. It was kind of scaring him, to be honest, and at the same time, he kind of liked it.

"Whatever," he said, not wanting to admit to her that she was right and that he fully agreed. He couldn't let her win all the time. There had to be limits.

Just then, a scrawny blond girl walked to the luggage carousel, and stood waiting for her bags. "That would be her," said Booth.

"Are you sure?" Brennan asked. "She looks like an ority girl on summer vacation or something."

"Ority?" Booth said, looking at Brennan with an amused expression on his face. He was constantly amazed by how little she knew about pop culture, and how much she knew about science. "I think you mean a sorority."

"Yeah, that," said Brennan.

"Yeah, well, her Professor described her as scrawny, blond, and mentioned something about her being pesky," said Booth, "she's scrawny, blond, and is already pesky because I have to baby-sit her."

"You used that word again," Brennan said pointedly, "just because you're babysitting doesn't make the job any less important. You'll be teaching her too, won't you? I mean, someone has to take care of the next generation of F.B.I. agents and if that means babysitting-"

"Bones, for the millionth time, I'M NOT BABYSITTING," Booth shouted a little too loudly. Several people in the airport looked at him strangely. The scrawny girl who Booth thought was the intern grabbed her bags and looking up at him, she gave him an odd sort of smile and walked towards him.

"So from all the shouting about babysitting," said the blond girl when she got over to them, "I gather you're Booth?"

Booth cleared his throat. "That's Agent Booth to you, er---" he said. "Oh crap."

"I prefer to go by Veronica Mars, thanks," said the blond, "Oh Crap isn't a very pretty nickname."

"Er right," said Booth, "no, I was just uh…thinking about something else."

"That's Booth speak for he forgot your name," Brennan said, putting her hand forward to shake Veronicas. The girl took it.

"I'm hurt," said Veronica with sarcasm and she shook Brennan's hand. "And who are you?"

"I'm Doctor Temperance Brennan," she said, "I'm Booth's partner."

"Is that the terms all the kids are using?" Veronica said after she was done shaking Brennan's hand. "You know, its okay to tell me that you're his girlfriend."

"WHAT?" Bones and Booth chorused together.

"We're not—" Brennan started to say.

"Bones isn't---"

"And Booth---"

"English, please," said Veronica, "I can't translate stammering."

"Bones and I aren't dating," said Booth.

"What he said," Brennan added, "I work for the Jeffersonian as an anthropologist. Booth comes to me when he has a murder where the remains are too far gone to for the coroner's office to figure out what killed them. We work together on solving crimes."

"Right," said Veronica, not sounding convinced.

"We're just work partners," said Booth, trying to convince her, "not those kind of partners."

"Uh-huh," said Veronica.

Booth and Brennan exchanged looks, wondering whether or not she got it. Why it was important she got it neither of them could put into thought, they just didn't want anyone thinking they were a couple.

"Right, well," said Booth, "we should get going."

"Yes, we definitely should," said Brennan, "Hodgins had something he wanted me to look at in the lab."

"And I have to take you to headquarters," said Booth, looking at Veronica.

"Okay then," she said, "let's go."

The three of them headed out to Booth's SUV and then Booth drove Brennan to the lab, and then it was just him and Veronica. There was an awkward silence, and then, in an attempt to break the ice, Booth said, "Why are you here?"

"In the car? Well, I thought that was obvious. You're taking me to F.B.I. headquarters," said Veronica, "after all, you're the one who told me that."

"No, I don't mean why are you here, here," said Booth, "I mean, why are you here this summer. Why do you want to be an F.B.I. agent? I mean, a girl like you should be, I dunno, staying in a beach house with some rich boyfriend or something like that."

"Wow, a girl like me," said Veronica, "if that was some subtle quip about my being blond, I would like you to know that I have a taser in my messenger bag, and I'm most definitely not afraid to use it."

"You know sarcasm isn't a very attractive quality in a woman," said Booth.

"Who said I was being sarcastic?" said Veronica, and to prove her point, she unzipped her messenger bag and pulled out a taser, and played with it to show that it worked. The thing made Booth jump and made him make the car swerve.

"Put that thing away!" Booth ordered, suddenly realizing that he was in the car with a lunatic.

"Okay, okay, calm down," said Veronica, "don't worry. I won't actually use it on you. Besides, I haven't decided if you're an ass or not yet. Only when I decide will this thing actually come in contact with you." She turned the tazer off and put it back in her bag.

"Oh, gee, well that's just _so _comforting," Booth said with sarcasm.

"It could be worse," she said.

"How could this be worse? I'm stuck in a car with a girl that has a tazer."

"I could have brought Backup with me," said Veronica.

"Ha ha," said Booth, "we don't get a lot of interns. I don't think-"

"I was talking about my dog not people," said Veronica, "he's an overprotective dog by the name of Backup."

"Right, right," said Booth, and he drove in silence, not really certain what to say.

"Cheer up Boothy," said Veronica patting him on the shoulder, "we're going to have a FUN summer."

_Sure, let's have Booth watch the psycho girl with the tazer, _Booth thought, _what a WONDERFUL idea. Ha, ha, ha….I'm going to KILL my boss. _They drove in silence for the rest of the way to headquarters, Booth fuming silently about the position that his boss had put him in.

"So Booth's babysitting?" said Angela, just as surprised at the news as everyone else had been. She sat in front of the computer she worked on, waiting for Brennan to tell her more…and to give her instructions as to what to do next.

"Well, he _says_ he's 'training an intern'," said Brennan, "but he might as well be babysitting. Wait….can you zoom in on that area right there?"

"Uh, sure," said Angela, and she made the computer zoom in on the area Brennan had asked her to. She then turned the subject back to Booth and his intern. "Well, I don't see why Booth's complaining."

"Oh, c'mon Ang, do you honestly think Booth's the ideal candidate for a nineteen year-old girl to hang out with?" Brennan asked.

"I'd think there was something wrong with the girl if she didn't hang out with Booth," said Angela, "if I were her, I'd be begging there was a job opening at the end of the summer, skip college, and stay here to drool over his sexy self…and all the other hot F.B.I. guys out there."

"Angela, that's completely beside the point," said Brennan, giving her friend a look, "it isn't the social norm for a teenage girl to want to be spending her time trying to find someone dying. She should be doing something…….like going to a party, or watching that show on a creek. I just think that her doing all this F.B.I. stuff is going to mess with her head a bit, that's all. I mean, I've been doing this work for years and it still gets to me."

"Brennan, you tried to make a pop culture reference!" said Angela, "admittedly an outdated one, but still, I'm proud of you."

"I don't care," said Brennan, "what I care about is that I don't think this girl should be doing stuff that should clearly be left to the professionals."

Angela smirked. "You're jealous," she said, looking at Brennan in a knowing sort of way. Brennan looked at her in surprise.

"Jealous?" said Brennan. "I'm not jealous. I have no reason to be jealous. She's a nineteen year-old girl, and besides that Booth and I are just partners. I'm just worried about the psychological damage this kind of environment is going to have on this girl, and that she won't be able to do her job. What if she compromises evidence or something? She doesn't know the protocol."

"Well, honey, that's why she's an intern," Angela said pointedly.

"I still think she shouldn't be doing this job," Brennan said, not budging from her belief that the girl was going to be nothing but a pest, and not to mention a complete distraction for Booth.

"Okay, so what exactly did this girl look like?" Angela asked.

Brennan sighed and answered, "She was of short stature, petite build, with blond hair, along with good facial structure and all the scientific attributes that would logically attract many mates."

"So in English, she was pretty?" Angela said.

"Not that it's important, but yes," Brennan said, "she is what one would consider attractive."

"So you're absolutely positive it isn't the fact that Booth is going to be spending time around a pretty nineteen year-old intern all summer that is making you a bit on the edge about this whole situation?" Angela asked.

"Positive," Brennan said.

"Right," said Angela, sounding completely skeptic.

"Okay, did you zoom in on that thing like I asked?" said Brennan.

"Yep, as you can see, its extra close on the computer screen," she said.

"Wow," Brennan said, surprised by what she saw in the picture.

Angela looked at it closely for the first time. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Definitely," said Brennan, "I'll call Booth…"

Angela opened her mouth to say something but Brennan shot her a look. "No more insinuations," said Brennan, "we're just work partners."

"Okay…" said Angela, turning back to her work as Brennan headed out of the office to call her 'partner' as she insisted that was all he was.

Veronica Mars was bored beyond the point of tears. She had been in Washington D.C. working as an intern for one hour and already she had been put to work doing normal, boring, intern things. As soon as they had got to headquarters, Agent Booth as he insisted he called her, (although Veronica was seriously considering calling him Agent Pain in the Rear) sat her down in his office in an extra chair he'd had in there (he refused to let her sit in the one behind his desk) and gave her a mountain high stack of paperwork to look over.

Sure, she hadn't expected that she'd be doing anything of the _X-Files _kind of work, but she had expected to at least do something interesting on the first day. Was that asking too much? Just then, her cell phone rang and she looked at the caller I.D. and saw that her dad was calling.

"Hey honey, you get there okay?" Keith Mars, her father, asked.

"I'm still in one piece, if that's what you mean," said Veronica, "but I also had to endure listening to some man read to his child about a rabbit and I was about ready to take him and the book and make a mean rabbit stew with them in it."

"You have such a high tolerance for people," said her Dad jokingly.

"You know it," said Veronica.

"So, how's your first day as a Fed?" Keith asked.

"Well, my superior thinks that I'm a babysitting case and his partner makes me actually understand what Charo says. Also, I'm being forced to look over some paperwork that's longer then the _Bhagavad Gita_," Veronica told him.

"Sounds like fun," said Keith.

"So, how's the sheriffs office treating you?" Veronica said.

"Wonderful. I arrested two kids for underage drinking yesterday, and gave Vinnie Vanlow a ticket for parking in the red zone," he said.

"You gave Vinnie Vanlow a ticket?" said Veronica," Did you take pictures?"

"I'll e-mail you them when I get home," said Keith jokingly. "I wish you could have seen his face."

"It had to have been something," said Veronica.

"Believe me, it was," Keith said, "enough about me. You said something about a superior who thought you were a babysitting case and a woman who made you understand what Charo said. Who, exactly, are they?"

"The man who thinks I'm a babysitting case is Agent Booth, or Agent Pain in my Rear which is the pretty little nickname I've decided to give him. He's the guy that's going to be my boss during my internship. He's SUPPOSED to be showing me around headquarters right now, but he got called into a meeting and just left me in his office with paperwork," said Veronica, "I might have to kill him at some point. Or at the very least injure him, badly."

"Honey, I'd rather not get a call from the F.B.I. saying you put one of their agents in the hospital," said Keith, "think you can at least try to restrain yourself from murdering the man?"

"I'll try," said Veronica and she added, "but I make no promises."

"Well," Keith said with a sigh, "I'll pretend I didn't here the last part. Now, what about the woman you're working with?"

"The woman is Temperance Brennan. She's an anthropologist who works at the Jeffersonian."

"What's an anthropologist doing working with the F.B.I?" Keith asked. "Shouldn't she be looking at the remains of Lucy or something?"

"She does stuff like that too, but she also helps the F.B.I. out with cases when they find bodies that are too far gone to be worked on by the coroner's office to figure out what happened to them," said Veronica, "and she writes mystery novels."

"Great," said Keith, "I'll add some of her books to my summer reading list."

"Dad, you don't have a summer reading list," Veronica reminded him.

"To true," said Keith, and then he told her, "look honey, Deputy Saks just came in and he wants me to take a look as something, so I'll probably be a bit busy here. But if you need anything, just call me."

"So, if I call you and I say I need a brand new Iphone---" Veronica started to say.

"You can keep on dreaming," Keith said, "but even if you don't need anything, call me. I want you to check in as much as you can and I'll try checking in with you too. You're working for the feds now. I'd like to know when you're in a hostage situation because of the big case."

"You mean you'll call me to wake me from the big sleep I'll go into," said Veronica.

Keith laughed. "Don't worry honey," he said, "you'll do something other then paper work soon. Just show 'em what you've got. I believe in you. Goodbye."

"Thanks Dad. Bye Dad," Veronica said and her Dad hung up the phone as did she. Just as she was pocketing her cell, Agent Pain in her Rear opened the door. 

"I'm going out to work on an assignment. Stay here, finish that paperwork, and don't get into trouble," Booth ordered her.

"But I-" Veronica started to object. Shouldn't she be going out with him? After all, it would be a learning experience. She was an intern. She was supposed to learn things.

"No butts," said Booth, "I'm going to arrest someone and I'd rather not have to try and get the criminal and keep an eye on a kid too. I'm not a daycare service." With that, he left the office and closed the door.

_Wow, _Veronica couldn't help but think, _why did I sign up for this again? Oh, wait, that'd because you want to be an F.B.I. agent. Good going, Mars, you should have majored in journalism like everyone else. _

Veronica looked at the paperwork that was on her lap and then her Dads words came back to her. 'Just show 'em what you've got' he told her. Well, she wasn't going to be able to show Agent Booth what she could do if she was sitting on a chair in an office doing paperwork.

_Well, if anyone asks, I'll just say dear old Dad told me too, _Veronica thought, a smile crossing her face. She laid the paperwork on the floor (made sure she had her tazer just incase) and then got up and followed Booth, knowing just exactly what she was doing.

Seeley Booth hated when he got into situations like these. That is, life and death situations. They came with the job, but still it was one part that he could do with out, especially since it was made worse by the fact that Bones was also involved.

This one involved Brennan being held by the whack-job they came there to arrest, while said whack-job had a knife pointed at her throat. Booth had his gun out and pointed at the suspect, but he didn't want to shoot the gun just yet because there was always the chance that he could miss and hit Bones instead and that was not a chance he was willing to take.

"For the second time, I'm going to tell you, put the knife down, now," Booth ordered.

"Now why would I want to do that?" the greasy man asked who was pointing the knife at Bones's throat said.

"Because I'm going to shoot you if you don't," said Seeley even though he knew that he wouldn't unless he absolutely had to.

"See, I don't think you will," the man said, "because right now, I've got girly with me and…

This was bad. Veronica would know, after all. She had been in worse situations. Like life and death situations where it was just her, the bad guy, and no one else to come to the rescue. Doctor Brennan, however, was lucky. She had Agent Booth with her, and Agent Booth also happened to have a gun.

But despite this fact, it didn't really help the good doctor, who was currently being held captive by some guy who had a knife to her throat. If Booth shot, there was a good chance that he could hit Doctor Brennan too.

_Bruce Willis Agent Booth is not, _Veronica couldn't help but think from her hiding place behind the wall in the parking garage where they currently were. Sneaking into the back of Booth's car to tag along on this particular excursion had to be one of the smartest things she had ever done, and bringing her taser along with her.

Just as the man was saying, "…I've got girly with me and…" Veronica tip-toed as quietly as she possibly could away from her hiding place, taser in hand. She didn't want anyone to notice she was there, otherwise the point of her coming out from her position would be completely pointless.

"Girlies going to kick your ass," Veronica muttered and, quickly, she took the taser to the guys neck. The guy wiggled a little and then collapsed.

"What the-"Agent Booth was about to say and then he looked up directly at Veronica. He shot her a glare. "How the heck did you get here?"

"What does it matter how she got here?" said Doctor Brennan. "She saved my life. I like this girl."

Booth rolled his eyes and then walked over to where Veronica was. "What are you doing here? I specifically remembered telling you to _stay put and do paperwork_."

"You did tell me that," said Veronica, "but that's not what interns do. Interns learn things. I can't learn things if you leave me in the office everyday."

"She does have a point, Booth," said Brennan, "I mean, Zach was my intern and he was there to-"

"I don't need commentary from the peanut gallery at this particular moment," said Booth.

"I don't know what that means," said Brennan.

Both Booth and Veronica shot Brennan a look, only Booth's was one of frustration and Veronica's was one of amusement. "It means, shut up and let me handle this," said Booth.

"Shouldn't you be deciding my punishment later?" said Veronica. "I mean, he is going to regain consciousness soon and it would be better if you focused on the whole, putting the handcuffs on him thing."

"Oh," said Booth, realizing that she was right, "right." He put the handcuffs on the unconscious criminal. "I'll deal with you when we get back to headquarters," he told Veronica.

Veronica just smiled. "Can't wait," she said.

Brennan looked at Veronica. "So, where exactly do you get one of those?" She asked, referring to the taser.

"Well I-" Veronica started to say but Booth interrupted her.

"DON'T encourage her to get one of those things," he said.

"But Booth-" Brennan started.

"No buts," he said, "to the car now."

Both Brennan and Veronica let out a sigh and then the two of them followed Booth back to the car so they could get back to headquarters. From all the muttering Booth did in the car, Veronica could tell she was definitely going to be in for it.

_And yet, _she thought with a smile, _it was so worth it. _


	2. The Woman in the Well

EARTH, BONES, AND MARS

By Wittyheroine

_Summary: Booth gets an intern…in the form of scrawny, annoying and blond nineteen year-old Hearst college student Veronica Mars. Veronica Mars crossover. _

_Disclaimer: Bones and Veronica Mars are property of their respective owners. I own nothing._

**CHAPTER TWO**

**The woman in the well pt 1. **

"This is _your entire_ fault," Seeley Booth said as he stormed through his bosses' doorway to his office. His boss, who had been on the phone at the moment, looked up at him, said goodbye quickly to who he was talking to, and then looked up at Booth.

"What the hell are you doing?" Agent Collin asked. "I was in the middle of something, in case you didn't notice."

"In the middle of something or not, _this is_ _all your fault_," Booth insisted.

"What is my fault?" he asked.

"Look, Agent Booth, don't be mad. I mean, did save her from being axed, she was-"Booth pointed to the short blond that was following him.

"That is your fault," he said.

"Oh," said Veronica, "you took me to see the man. It's never good when someone is brought into see the man. You know, I think that I'll just leave-"Veronica turned and started to head out the door but Booth grabbed her by the shoulder, turned her around, and sat her down in one of the chairs by the desk of his boss.

"Kid, it's your first day on the job and you're an intern," the man said, "what could you have possibly done?"

"Absolutely nothing," Veronica lied.

Booth shot her a look. Veronica sighed. "Well, I might have done something," Veronica said.

Agent Collin looked directly at Veronica. "And just what, exactly, you do?"

"I'll tell you what she did, she-"

"Booth," said his boss, shooting him an annoyed look. "I want the girl's explanation."

"Fine," said Booth, "fine, fine."

Veronica smirked triumphantly. "Thank you, Agent Collin," she said, and then explained, "I might have…snuck into Booth's car and followed him when he went to arrest the guy, and then snuck out of the car and saved Brennan's life."

Agent Collin looked from Veronica to Booth. "Agent Booth," he said, "I was under the impression that you at least liked Doctor Brennan. So why do you have a problem with Miss Mars saving her life?"

"It's not that I have a problem with Brennan, or Mars saving her life, I just have a problem with the way she went about it," said Booth, "the whole sneaking thing when I told her to stay here, the fact that, you know, things could have gone very wrong. She interfered where she shouldn't have been. Things like that, yeah, they get under my skin."

"She's an intern at the F.B.I.," said Agent Collin, "and she just did something every agent does."

"And that would be?" said Booth.

"She didn't listen to her superiors," he said, "now Booth, haven't you been known to do that on occasion?"

Booth sighed. "Well, yeah, but that was different-"His boss gave him a look that reminded him that the situation wasn't any different then anything he'd done in the past.

"Good job, Miss Mars," said Agent Collin, "you did what most everyone would do to impress their boss, and you did it well."

Veronica smiled. "Thank you," she said.

"And, as an added note, if you cause my agent anymore trouble, I will be sending you back home where you can work part time at Burger King like any other kid in America does over the summer," Agent Collin said. Seeley smiled at his words, and Veronica looked at him in shock.

"But…but…" she started to say.

"No buts, Miss Mars," he said, "you two are free to go. I expect Agent Booth has some paperwork he'll be needing you, his intern, to finish."

Veronica sighed. "Fine," she said, and she followed a chuckling Booth out of the office.

"Now that, that was brilliant," Booth said, still laughing at the scene he had just witnessed.

"May I remind you that he still called me brilliant," said Veronica.

"And then reminded you that you had paperwork to finish," Booth shot back. "See, he knows where an interns place is. You should take notes from him."

"I can't," said Veronica, "I've got paperwork to do, remember?"

Booth smirked. "Of course I remember, I'm the one forcing you to do it," he said, "oh yeah, and before you get started on that can you bring me a cup of coffee?"

Veronica shot him a nasty glare. "What?" Booth said innocently. "It's what interns do."

"Ha, ha," she said with sarcasm and then she went to the break room to go and get Booth his coffee, although she would have rather used her taser on him. Of course considering how obnoxious the man was, she had a feeling that she just might end up doing that at some point.

_Down girl, _Veronica told herself, _you wanted this internship remember. However much you may want to severely injure Agent Pain in the Rear you're just going to have to hold out on kicking his butt until the internships over. Until then, just do the sarcasm thing. Then he'll be annoyed and you can keep yourself from being fired. _

The rest of the afternoon passed slowly, and then night came, and eventually morning. Veronica, who was staying in a small apartment provided for by the F.B. I., awoke to the sound of her cell phone ringing. She checked the caller i.d. and found that it was an unfamiliar number. She opened it, and said, "Hello?"

No one answered. Instead, a familiar tune played, and lyrics started. "You and I, we're two of a kind, I hate to say it but you'll never relate, what makes you tick? It makes me smile…"

"Hello?" Veronica said. "Is anyone there? Who is this? This isn't funny..." The familiar song played a bit more and then the person, whoever it had been, hung up. Veronica stared at the phone, wondering just who exactly had called.

The song that had played gave her chills, and there was only one person who she associated that song with, but there was just no way…no way…especially since she hadn't heard from that person for almost two years, and he knew the risk of calling.

_Flashback _

_It had been her birthday. She'd come home, not expecting anything. Only when she got to the apartment complex, she'd been surprised to see her boyfriend Duncan in the pool. The radio was playing, 'Just Another' by Pete Yorn. Duncan, upon seeing her, swam to the side of the pool and rested his arms there, smiled, and said, "Hey baby, it's our song." _

_Just then Veronica heard someone carrying down the stairs, and her Mother, Lianne Mars, had come down with some of her friends who were carrying a birthday cake and Lilly, her best friend, was there with Logan, Lilly's boyfriend and Veronica's friend who had his arm around Lilly's. Some of the kids were carrying presents. _

_Veronica was surprised they had remembered her birthday. She hadn't thought they would. _

_Then, her friends said, "Happy Birthday, Veronica." _

"_Happy Birthday, Veronica," her Mom also had added, "Are you surprised?" _

_End of flashback _

Veronica shook her head. She'd always associated that song with Duncan, her ex-boyfriend, and that particular memory. But Duncan couldn't have been the one who called. A lot had changed which would make it impossible.

A while after that birthday, Duncan broke it off with Veronica after he'd found something strange about the past of her Mom and his Dad. Later Veronica's friend, Lilly Kane, who also happened to be Duncan's sister and the daughter of a rich businessman Jake Kane, had been found murdered by the Kane's pool side. Veronica's Dad, who had been sheriff at the time, had pointed fingers at Duncan's father, convinced that he did it. The intense year that followed after that had led to Veronica finding out who Lilly's murderer was, and the summer after that had led to a reconciliation with Duncan. In between their time apart though, Duncan had been seeing a girl called Meg, who, without Veronica and Duncan knowing it, had been pregnant with Duncan's child. When they found out, complications arose with Meg which made it so that she couldn't take care of the baby, and Meg's parents weren't exactly the parental sort, so Veronica had helped Duncan kidnap the kid when it was born. The subject, Veronica knew, was still under investigation and since that was the case, Veronica and Duncan hadn't had any contact in a long time.

In fact, Veronica hadn't given much thought about Duncan. The past year had been spent investigating rapes at her college and the murder of her Dean. Also, Veronica had had to deal with her tortured relationship with Logan Echolls, (her now ex-boyfriend) who at one point had been Duncan's best friend when they were in high school. After Lilly's murder, Logan and Veronica had become close while Veronica had investigated something for him, and started a relationship which had been off and on for a while after that. It stopped, of course, when Veronica had been dating Duncan, and then had started again the summer after Duncan had left, and Veronica had been with him part of this year. The relationship was too complicated to continue though, and Veronica had ended it yet again.

In between all this, Veronica hadn't had the time to think about Duncan, although there had been moments when she'd worried about him. She knew Duncan was smart enough not to contact her, considering Duncan was still being looked for as he was wanted for kidnapping his own child. Although Veronica and Duncan had made sure no one would connect her to the case after his disappearance, it was still dangerous for them to be in contact with one another because they could find him through Veronica if he did.

So the strange call was definitely not from Duncan. Veronica rolled over in bed and dropped the phone on her mattress. She was just over thinking this. Whoever had called might have been playing a prank, and the song could have just been a coincidence. Or it could have just been a wrong number.

Until she got some kind of mysterious cryptic message from Duncan that said he was in life threatening danger, she wasn't going to worry about. She was an intern, and she, unlike most normal people in the summer, had work.

The cell phone rang again. It was Booth, although she didn't remember putting his phone number into her cell phone. She answered the phone, saying, "Did you steal my phone to put your number in it?"

"Hi to you too," said Booth, "and I don't have to answer that. Are you dressed?"

"In pajamas," Veronica answered.

"Well, get dressed in clothes," said Booth, "I'm going to pick you up in ten minutes."

"What? Why?" Veronica asked.

"You're an intern. What do interns do?" Booth said.

"Work. But that doesn't explain-"

"Get dressed or I'm taking you in your pajamas," said Booth, "and arriving to a crime scene dressed in pajamas isn't exactly professional."

"Crime scene? What crime scene?" said Veronica, interested.

"You are now down to ten minutes. Don't ask questions, get dressed," said Booth, "now."

"Right. Dressed," said Veronica, "bye."

"Bye," said Booth and she heard him hang up on his end. Veronica hung up her phone as well, putting it on the night stand and then she hurried to get herself ready and dressed.

When she was finished, there was a loud knock on the door. "Who is it?" Veronica asked, wanting to make sure it was in fact Booth and not someone else coming to call.

"It's the milk man," came Booth's voice with sarcasm, "seriously, you have to ask that?"

"It's D.C.," Veronica said as she opened the door and when she let Booth in, she added, "its better to be safe then sorry."

"Okay," said Booth, "that's true. Now get your stuff and let's go."

Veronica grabbed her messenger bag and cell phone and then said, "Okay. I'm ready."

"Right then," said Booth, "let's go."

The two of them exited Veronica's apartment and then headed to the parking lot where Booth's car was. "Why the sudden change of heart?" Veronica asked.

"Because you said you wanted to learn something and I can't have you doing anything stupid or rash like last time during your stay here," said Booth. "That, and maybe what your about to see won't make the idea of following me on my cases so appetizing."

Veronica stopped and looked directly at Booth, who stopped as well, not knowing what she was doing. "What are you stopping for?" Booth said.

"Agent Booth, do you even know why I got this internship?" Veronica said.

"Because you had a couple of good recommendations and read too many _Nancy Drew _books?" Booth said. "I don't know. Why does it matter?"

"Because if you're ever going to take me seriously and have me doing stuff _besides getting your coffee _and _besides doing your paperwork_ then I think you should know," said Veronica.

"You're an intern, Miss Mars," said Booth, "that's what you're supposed to do. I don't care what got you in here. My job is to make sure you do exactly that, and don't interfere with my own job so that I don't have your Daddy Dearest suing the F.B.I. for something stupid that got you hurt, or worse, killed. I don't know what you've heard, but this job isn't all fun and games."

"Right," said Veronica, "well, if you ever should get the urge to at least know you've got a competent intern, just check with your boss. You might be surprised at what you learn."

"Yeah, well, you and I are going to get enough surprises at the crime scene," said Booth, "you eat breakfast this morning Mars?"

"Um, no," said Veronica, "remember, you only gave me ten minutes to get ready…and you're about as charming as Sheriff Lamb in the afternoon, so I didn't want to imagine what you were like in the morning and I wanted to be dressed and ready."

"I'm going to ignore the Sheriff Lamb comment because I have no idea who that is," said Booth, "but I'm going to say that you'll thank me for not giving you the time when you get there. Now, c'mon, let's go. You get the back seat, and Bones is in the front."

"Bones?" Veronica said.

"Doctor Brennan, Temperance, Tempe, call her whatever you want," said Booth, and then he added, "well, anything but Bones. That's my thing."

"Oh god," said Veronica, "Pacey, wake up and smell the roses please."

Booth looked at her strangely. "Car, now," he told her instead of asking what she meant by that comment.

Veronica and Booth walked the rest of the way to the car. Doctor Brennan or "Bones" as Booth called her was in there, waiting for them. Veronica opened the door and got into the backseat of the car. "Hi, Doctor Brennan," Veronica greeted. She liked Doctor Brennan much more then Booth and didn't blame her for being stuck with such an annoying partner.

"Hi Veronica," Brennan greeted.

Booth sighed as he got into the drivers seat. "Please tell me you two aren't going to bond and think up ways to give me a heart attack or something," said Booth.

Brennan and Veronica exchanged looks. "That hadn't crossed my mind," said Brennan.

"It hadn't crossed mine either," Veronica said.

"Why are you so convinced Veronica is trouble, Booth?" Brennan asked.

"Yeah, why are you, Agent Booth?" Veronica wanted to know as well.

"She's a teenage girl, and pesky and teenage girls who are pesky tend to get in the way and screw things up," Booth answered, "and a teenage girl working for the F.B.I. on an internship is bound to be pesky."

"I think you're just worried," said Brennan.

"Bones, why would I be worried about her?" said Booth.

"Because according to you, I cause trouble," said Veronica, "or have you changed your mind about that one?"

"I wasn't talking about Veronica," said Brennan, "personally; I think she was smart to have tagged along yesterday. I mean, who knows what would have happened if she hadn't shown up? You did not have a good way to shoot, so anything could have gone wrong."

"Nothing would have gone wrong," said Booth, "I would have gotten you out of there."

"How?" Brennan asked.

"Well, I just—"Booth paused, as though uncertain of his answer, "I just would have."

Veronica saw Brennan smile slightly at this. "Okay then," said Brennan.

_I haven't seen two people more in denial about having a thing for each other since Molder and Scully, _Veronica couldn't help but think, _seriously, the sexual tensions just radiating off of them. At least I know this internship won't be boring, no matter how much paperwork Booth does make me do. After all, it is always entertaining watching two people attempt to deny their feelings for each other. _

After about being an hour in the car, Veronica wondered just where exactly they were going and she asked, "Hey Agent Booth, I know you said crime scene, but just where exactly is this crime scene?"

"Virginia," Booth answered. "New couple moved into a house there and were getting their well tested and got a bit of a nasty surprise when they went to go check it out for themselves."

"You mean they found the body?" Brennan asked.

"Not in front of the kid, Bones," said Booth.

"I'm nineteen, I'm not a kid, and I can handle dead body talk," said Veronica and she added with a hint of hurt in her voice for some strange reason, "I've seen one before, you know."

"Seeing them on horror movies and _C.S.I. _don't count," said Booth.

Veronica shot him a look. "If you took a second to look past the age factor, you might learn that there's more then meets the eye to me, Agent Booth," she said.

"Yeah, yeah, sure," said Booth, apparently not believing her at all.

Veronica looked at Brennan. "Is he always this impossible?"

"Pretty much," Brennan said with a smile. Booth shot her a look, and they drove in silence the rest of the way.

When they arrived, the place was packed with cops and F.B.I., and one brave news crew who were trying to get someone to talk to them.

The three of them got out of the car, and were stopped by a cop. "I need some form of identification before I can let you on the premises," the cop said.

"I'm Agent Seeley Booth, I'm with the F.B.I.," Booth said, holding up his badge.

"And these two are?" he asked, pointing to Doctor Brennan and Veronica.

"I'm Doctor Temperance Brennan, I'm agent Booths partner," Brennan informed him and added, "I'm an anthropologist for the Jeffersonian and I help the F.B.I. out with cases."

"And blondie?" the cop asked.

"I'm-"

"The pesky blond here is my intern," said Booth.

"I don't think someone unqualified should be allowed near the crime scene," said the cop.

"Hey I-" Veronica started to protest, but Booth stepped in front of her to make her stop.

"Where I go, she goes," said Booth, "and if you've got a problem with that I'll be more then happy to talk to your boss and mention that you were meddling in F.B.I. affairs."

"Er-okay then," said the cop, "you three can go right on in then." The cop stepped aside and let them on through.

"Thanks for that," Veronica said to Booth.

"Don't thank me," said Booth.

"Why?" Veronica asked.

"Because I only did it to make sure you wouldn't end up in trouble while on your own," said Booth, "now stay close, and don't touch anything."

Veronica let out a sigh and muttered something about guys who carried guns being cocky, which Booth chose to ignore. They walked toward the people in blue suits, who were standing with another person that looked like a cop.

"Agent Booth and Doctor Brennan, I assume?" the cop said.

"Yes, that's us," said Brennan.

The cop looked at Veronica suspiciously. "Your niece?" he asked, directing the question to Booth.

"Aw, how sweet," Veronica said in a fake, sweet voice hugging Booth just to annoy him, "he thinks you're my uncle. In that case, I guess you can take me to get an ice cream afterwards?"

"Release me now or I'm going to file a sexual assault complaint," Booth said. Veronica rolled her eyes and muttered something that sounded a lot like 'as if' and then let go. He looked at the cop who was chuckling slightly. "Miss inappropriate here is my intern. I've been asked to show her the ropes and take her to a few crime scenes just to give her the idea of how the jobs done."

"Right, well, I expect you to watch her," said the cop. "I'll take you to the body."

"Why does everyone act like I've never been around a crime scene before?" Veronica muttered under her breath, but Brennan still managed to hear what she said.

"From an Anthological stand point, I'd say they don't trust you because you're a strong, young woman and they find it intimidating," said Brennan, and then she added, "it's the same reason many of the witches in the Salem Witch Trials were burned, because they didn't conform to the social norms. That and it's also a territory thing. Booth's afraid of you because you're young and you could possibly take over his job."

"I heard that," Booth said as they continued to follow the cop. Brennan and Veronica exchanged looks, both with smirks on their faces and then they also kept on walking, following not far behind Booth.

They stopped in front of a place where another cop was standing and they found that they were looking in at the bottom of the well. Down at the very bottom was a skeleton, sitting as though scrunched up, with the arms held together by hand cuffs.

Veronica stared down at the well, her eyes as wide as saucers, and she flinched, and Booth looked at her and he asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Veronica said.

"Right, somebody get me a rope so I can get down there and see if there's anymore evidence," Brennan said.

Veronica turned away from the well for a minute, the image of Lily Kane's death swimming in her head.

A/N: Okay…chapter twos done. They've found the body, the mystery's starting up. Things to look forward to: The Squints and their impossible jargon, Veronica almost giving Zach a heart attack, and more Booth and Brennan. Thanks for the reviews; I'm extremely grateful for those of you who actually take the time to write them up. Keep on writing them, and I'll keep on writing the story. For those of you who don't watch Veronica Mars, check out  for a reference to try and understand what's going on from Veronica's point of view.


	3. The Interns in the Lab

_Disclaimer: I own neither Bones nor Veronica Mars. _

Chapter Three

Interns in the lab

The couple who owned the house was a Charlie and Amy Williams. They seemed like a nice enough couple, although a little shaken after having found a dead body in the well. "How long have you owned the house?" asked Seeley Booth.

"Not long," Charlie answered, "just a few weeks."

"And you didn't know the couple that previously owned the house?" asked Brennan. Veronica stood behind the two, watching the questioning with surprise. She hadn't expected Doctor Brennan to be this involved in cases.

"No," answered Amy, "the real estate agent said it was owned by a man whose wife went missing some years ago. The wife came back though, and so they sold the house because it had too many bad memories for them in it."

"Did they leave anything in the house-"Veronica started to ask, but Booth put his hand up to stop her talking.

"You're interfering," he said.

"I'm not interfering, I'm trying to be helpful," Veronica said, "The previous tenants might have left something behind that could be a clue."

"I know that. You don't think I know that?" said Booth. "Who is the F.B.I. agent? I am. Who is the intern?"

"I am," said Veronica, with little enthusiasm in her voice.

"Good," said Booth, "I'm glad to see you understand. Now that being the case, I ask all the questions to the people involved, alright?"

"Am I allowed to ask any questions at all?" I said.

"To me about how to do things, or anything else, sure," said Booth, "but you, you never interact with the people involved in the case. Got that?"

"I got it, I got it," said Veronica, "just one thing though."

"What?" said Booth, who let out an irritated sigh.

"When you wear those big belt buckles that you do, are you compensating for something or is it just a fashion statement? Because you know they say-"

"Alright, you can shut up now," said Booth, and then he turned back to look at the people that he was questioning.

"Did the people who live here before leave any personal belongings of theirs?" Booth asked.

"Hey!" Veronica started to object, but Booth put his hand up to silence her again. Brennan gave Veronica a look of sympathy.

"Not that we know of," said Charlie, "but feel free to look around."

"Alright, thank you," said Booth.

"Can you get us the number for the real estate agent your house was listed in under?" asked Brennan.

"Sure," said Amy, and she went into her office and came back out with a card and handed it to Brennan. "Her numbers right there."

"Thanks," said Brennan, "we'll be leaving now." She then turned to Booth. "Come on; let's go back to the Jeffersonian."

"Oh, this will be entertaining," said Booth, "Angela's there today right? We're going to need to have someone there to explain your Squint Jargon."

"We don't have a Jargon," said Brennan, "everyone there can understand each other perfectly."

"Yes, except for those of us who don't have Ph.D's," said Booth.

"Hey, I'm in college," said Veronica.

"Yes, but seriously, you need a dictionary when you listen to these Squints talk," he said.

"Squints?" said Veronica.

"Yeah," said Booth, "they look at things."

Veronica arched an eyebrow, and then she looked at Brennan, and smiled. "He means people with high I.Q's and good reasoning abilities, doesn't he?"

Brennan nodded.

Booth exchanged looks with them. "Okay," he said, "You planned this, didn't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about Booth," said Brennan, "she must just adjust to this world better then you did."

"Hey," said Booth, sounding defensive, "she did not adjust better to this world then I did. She's an intern."

"That doesn't mean anything," said Veronica, smiling.

"Yes it does," said Booth, "it means something. It means that I've got the badge, and you don't."

Veronica rolled her eyes.

"So, we're going to the lab?" she said looking at Brennan.

"Yes we are," said Brennan. Veronica and Brennan headed to the car. They paused and turned to look at Booth.

"Are you coming?" Brennan asked.

"What do you mean am I coming?" said Booth. "Of course I'm coming. It's my car." He pushed ahead of them and walked in front.

Brennan and Veronica exchanged looks.

"Hmmm," said Brennan, "I think Booth doesn't like being the only male."

"You know," said Veronica, "I was thinking the same thing."

The two of them walked to the car where Booth was already waiting for the two of them to get inside and they got into the car and drove to the Jeffersonian, Booth fuming all the way and muttering things underneath his breath, much to the amusement of Brennan and Veronica.

They got to the Jeffersonian, but when they did, Booth all but ran to the lab. Brennan and Veronica just shook their heads at his strange behavior.

"This is the lab," said Brennan, "it's where I do most of my work. I also have a team that helps me, and they're the best possible team that you could ask for."

"Yes, this is the lab-the good old Jeffersonian," said Booth, "and you don't get to touch anything."

"Well, unless I say that she can touch it," said Brennan.

"No, you're not listening Bones," said Booth, "she doesn't get to touch _anything_."

"Ah, right," said Brennan, and then she looked at Veronica, "apparently, you can't touch anything, according to Booth."

"According to both of us," said Booth.

"According to you," said Brennan, "I never said that she couldn't touch anything."

Booth let out a sigh. "Let's just go and see what the rest of the Squints have for us, alright?"

"Sounds good," said Brennan.

The three of them headed to the lab, and Booth was oddly cheerful that he had to let Veronica in. He was taking too much pleasure out of this whole authority thing.

On a table, the skeleton was laid out. "Hey guys," said a guy with short curlyish hair, "who's the girl?"

"Trouble," muttered Booth.

Veronica rolled her eyes and held out her hand. "Hi," she said, "I'm Veronica Mars. I'm Captain Grumpy Pant's intern."

The guy laughed. "They actually trusted you with an intern, Booth?" he said.

"Yes, they did," said Booth, "what's so funny about that, Hodgins?"

"It's just-never mind," said the guy who was apparently named Hodgins, upon seeing the look that Booth was shooting him. He then looked at Veronica. "Nice to meet you, I'm Jack Hodgins. Everyone calls me Hodgins."

"Nice to meet you, Hodgins," said Veronica, who shook his hand.

At this point, a dark haired woman around Brennan's age carrying a sketchpad entered. "Hey Booth, Brennan," said the woman, and then upon noticing Veronica, "hi person that I don't know. I'm Angela, and you are?"

"Hi Angela, I'm Veronica," she introduced herself for the second time, "I'm Booth's intern."

"Booth got an intern?" said Angela, looking at Booth with wide eyes.

"Hey, hey," said Booth, "what is with the reactions here? Why is everyone so surprised that I was trusted with an intern?"

"What's this about an intern?" said another woman who came over.

"Amazing, but Booth got an intern," said Veronica, and then she said, "and I'm that intern. Hi, I'm Veronica."

"Huh," said the woman, "Nice to meet you. I'm Cam. You know you actually won't be the only intern here. Brennan has an intern herself."

"Yeah, who's scared of his own shadow," muttered Booth.

"Hey, be nice Booth," said Brennan, "Zack's a very nice young man and a gifted individual. He's just awkward socially."

"Did someone say my name?" said the voice of a young guy maybe a couple years older than Veronica who came over just then.

"Oh hi Zack," said Brennan, "we were just telling Booths new intern Veronica about you."

"Booths new intern?" said Zack, confused.

Veronica waved. "Hi Zack, I'm Veronica," she introduced herself for what must have been the millionth time that day.

"Er-hi," said Zack, who suddenly went very quiet, turned red, and started looking at his feet.

"Um," said Veronica, "did I scare him or something?"

"Ignore him," said Booth, "Zack's a little out there."

The group exchanged glances, no one saying what they were all thinking, although the amused smirk and the pat on the shoulder Hodgins gave Zack could have said it all. "Okay," said Brennan after a moment, "lets uh…get to work."

_**A/N: So after a very long hiatus I am back. I told you I didn't give up on this story. My problem was figuring out what the mystery was going to be, and now that I have that worked out, I can continue with this story. Sorry I took so long. **_

_**I don't know if anyone reads Twilight but if you do, check my profile because I just started working on a Twilight story as well, so go and check that out. **_


	4. The Bet

_Disclaimer: I own nothing. Oh yes, and please note I have no experience whatsoever in the field of forensic science so I'm making it up as I go. Please don't be too harsh on me. Thanks. _

Chapter Four

The Bet

"So, from the marks on her wrist, it's clear that our victim fought back," Brennan was said as she examined the bones of the wrist.

"There's a piece of something stuck in the hand cuffs," said Hodgins, "I'm going to go and try to find what it is." Hodgins took it out with some tweezers and put it in a little cup.

Veronica sat off to the side in a chair, watching the investigation in interest. Never in a million years when Veronica had pictured what it was that she was going to be doing over her summer break in her internship had she pictured that she would be sitting in the Jeffersonian lab with a group of scientists 'squints' as Booth called them and watching them look over a dead body. She had known there would be dead bodies involved she just didn't think that they would bring them to the Jeffersonian of all places.

"Zack, what have you found?" Brennan asked.

Zack, Brennan's intern, had been sitting there ever since he'd entered, practically immobile except when he occasionally muttered to himself. Brennan had told Veronica that he was supposed to be brilliant but Veronica was beginning to think that maybe Brennan had been sadly mistaken about her intern, and that there was something not quite right with him.

"Zack," said Brennan who walked over to where he was standing at his side of the table, staring blankly at the dead body, "Zack, are you alright?"

At this, Booth sighed. "Okay, I think I'm going to go so that you guys can actually get some work done," said Booth.

"What are you talking about?" said Brennan. "You always stay and watch."

"Yes," said Booth, "I always stay and watch, but I never distract from the process. Right now I have someone who is distracting from the process."

"What?" said Brennan, "Who is distracting from the process?"

Booth looked at Veronica.

"Hey," she said defensively, "how am I distracting from the process? I'm just sitting here watching. I'm not doing anything. You told me to sit here and not do anything, and that's what I'm doing. I haven't done anything."

"Yeah, not intentionally," said Booth.

"What's that supposed to mean?" said Veronica.

"Yeah, Booth, I don't get how Veronica's distracting either," said Brennan.

"Of course you don't," said Booth, shaking his head.

Just then his cell phone rang. "Booth," he said, "yeah? Okay, I'll go right over there. Yeah, yeah-I'll take the intern with me." Booth hung up his phone just then.

"Who was that?" Veronica asked.

"That was my boss," said Booth, "they found the real estate agent and they've brought her in for questioning."

"I can't go with you, I've got to examine the remains thoroughly," said Brennan.

"It's alright," said Booth, "I'm supposed to take Blondie here and go."

"If you call me Blondie one more time, I swear that I will use my tazer on you," Veronica threatened.

"You have a tazer?" said Brennan.

"No, you can't have one," said Booth, looking at her pointedly.

"Fine," said Brennan, looking disappointed.

"Come on," said Booth, practically dragging Veronica out of the lab.

"Watch the hands, watch the hands," said Veronica.

"Thank you Booth," said Zack, speaking for the first time since he'd seen Veronica.

"You're welcome buddy," said Booth.

In Booths car, Veronica said, "Okay, I still don't get how I was a distraction."

"Didn't someone ever explain the birds and the bees to you?" said Booth.

"Yes," said Veronica.

"Well, Zack's a guy-"

"And?" said Veronica.

"And you're a girl," said Booth, "and Zack is a socially awkward guy who isn't around girls very often."

Veronica laughed.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," said Veronica.

"I am most certainly not," said Booth, "the kid didn't even function when you were in there."

"He said 'thanks Booth'," said Veronica pointedly.

"After I was dragging you out of the lab and your back was turned to him," said Booth.

"I think you're just looking for something else to blame me for," said Veronica.

"I am not," said Booth, "I'm-you know what, okay, never mind. Fine, don't believe me."

Booth parked in the parking lot of the FBI building and then the two of them headed inside. They went into the room that they had for questioning. Sitting inside was a woman in her forties, with short red hair, who smelled too much like Chanel.

"Hello there," said the woman "is anyone going to tell me what's going on? I got home today and there was a message on my phone saying that I should come in as soon as possible."

"Ah, you're Mrs. Campbell, are you not?"Said Booth.

"Yes, I'm Mrs. Campbell," said the woman, "of Campbell real estate."

"Good," said Booth, who took a seat across from him and Veronica took the seat that was next to Booth. "What can you tell us about the house that you sold to the Williams?"

"Very nice house," said the woman, "by the lake. One story, why?"

"There was a dead body found in the well," said Booth.

The woman looked horrified by this revelation. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "That's horrible."

"Yes," said Booth, "it is and I was wondering-"

"We were wondering if you might be able to tell us anything about the previous family that lived there," said Veronica, knowing that she wouldn't get a word in edge wise.

Booth shot her an irritated look but the woman was already speaking, saying, "Well the house had some bad memories for the man and his wife. She'd gone missing for a while, and then her kidnappers just let her go one day. So the man and his wife wanted to start over somewhere in a house that didn't hold bad memories for them."

"Wait a minute," said Booth, "let me get this straight-the woman was kidnapped and they just let her go?"

"That's what they said," said the woman.

"Was the incident reported to the police?" said Booth.

"I don't know," said the woman, "I didn't ask. It wasn't my place. I was just supposed to sell it."

"Alright," said Booth, "do you have the number to the family that originally owned the place?"

"Yes, of course," said the woman, "I'll get it for you."

"Thank you," said Booth.

The woman dialed a number on her cell phone. "Hello?" said Mrs. Campbell. "Yes Susan? Can you get me the number of the Andersons?" Mrs. Campbell took out a piece of paper and wrote the phone number on it. "Alright, thank you. Yes, yes I'll see you later Susan." Mrs. Campbell hung up her phone and then she took the piece of paper with the phone number and handed it to Booth. "There you are."

"Thanks," said Booth.

"You're welcome," said Mrs. Campbell, "and by the way-if this gets out to the press can you make sure that my name isn't mentioned in it? It would be bad for business."

Booth rolled his eyes.

"Sure thing," he said.

"May I go now?" said Mrs. Campbell.

"Yes, Mrs. Campbell," said Booth, "thank you for the help."

Mrs. Campbell got up and left. "Why did you interrupt me?" said Booth.

"Because I knew you weren't going to let me talk otherwise," said Veronica.

"Never do that again," said Booth.

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine," said Veronica, "what are we going to do now?"

"We're going to go and question this couple," said Booth.

"Do I actually get to ask questions?" said Veronica.

"No," said Booth, "you get to sit there and look pretty."

"You know, if you actually let me do something, you might actually discover that I could be of some use to you," said Veronica. "You know, that's the whole point of having an intern."

"Uh huh," said Booth, "I don't care. You're still not asking questions."

"Urgh," Veronica let out an irritated sound.

"What was that for?" said Booth.

"That was the sound of my soul, dying, of boredom," said Veronica, "from spending time with the famous Seeley Booth."

"What'd you say?" said Booth.

"The famous Seeley Booth," said Veronica, "when I got this internship, people couldn't stop talking about 'the famous Seeley Booth'. They were all 'oh yes, he's a good agent, you'll learn a lot from him'."

Booth looked at Veronica suspiciously.

"You're sucking up to me," said Booth.

Veronica smiled wide. "Is it working?" she asked.

Booth narrowed his eyes. "Maybe," said Booth.

"Do I get to ask questions?" said Veronica.

Booth let out a sigh. "Alright, one," said Booth.

"Oh come on," said Veronica, "do you know how hard that bit was to do with a straight face?"

"You're only getting one," said Booth.

Veronica managed to make her smile wider, if possible, showing her teeth. "Would it help if I said that before my internship, they also said that you were incredibly sexy?"

Booth winced. "Never, never say that again," said Booth, "that's just wrong. "

"Why?" said Veronica.

"Because you're young enough to be my kid sister," said Booth, "or my niece or something-look, just don't do it again."

"Okay," said Veronica, "but come on how about, like, five?"

"One or nothing," said Booth.

"Three," Veronica tried again.

Booth let out a sigh. "Okay, okay," he said, "two."

Veronica jumped in excitement, exclaiming, "Yes!"

Booth rolled his eyes. "Come on, come on," he said, "let's go."

Veronica and Booth got into the car and left, heading to the home of the couple that had previously owned the house where the body had been found, Veronica smiling the whole way because she actually got to do something productive. Booth, however, was more than a little sulky because he had to put up with Veronica asking questions.

Once they got to the couples house, Booth stopped Veronica before they went inside. "First things first," said Booth, "if I find your question irrelevant, they don't have to answer it. If I think your question is stupid, they don't have to answer it."

Veronica rolled her eyes at Booth. "Yeah, yeah," said Veronica, "I get it, I get it. Can we go inside now?"

"Okay," said Booth.

The two of them walked up to the front door, and Booth rang the door bell. After a few seconds, the door was opened by a guy in his early thirties, sharply dressed. "Hello?" said the guy who must have been Mr. Anderson.

"Mr. Anderson?" said Booth.

"Yeah, that's me," said Mr. Anderson.

"Hi, I'm Agent Booth of the F.B.I," Booth introduced himself, "this is my intern, Veronica Mars."

"The F.B.I.?" said Mr. Anderson. "What's going on? Is my wife okay?"

"Yeah," said Booth, "your wife is fine. Actually, this isn't about her. This is about the body that we found at your previous house."

"You found a body at my previous house?" exclaimed Mr. Anderson.

"Yes," said Booth, "can we come in? We'd like to ask you a few questions."

"Yes, yes, of course," said Mr. Anderson, "come on inside."

Booth and Veronica headed on inside, following Mr. Anderson. "Have a seat," he said, gesturing towards the couch. He himself took a seat on the couch opposite.

"What's this about a body being found at our old place?" said Mr. Anderson.

"The new couple that just moved in," said Booth, "they were trying to get the well working, and when they did, they found a body."

"Do you know who it is?" said Mr. Anderson.

"No," said Booth, "not yet. But um, do you remember anyone going missing when you were living there, by chance? Anyone in a fight that could have ended badly?"

"Honestly," said Anderson, "I don't know. I can't tell you. I mean, my wife went missing, but obviously she came back so it's not her."

"Your wife," said Veronica, "she was kidnapped, right?"

"Um, yeah," said Anderson, "they kept her for a while and then they just let her go one day."

"That's unusual, though," said Veronica, "how has your wife been since then?"

"She's been fine," said Anderson, "I mean it was a little rocky, for a while, but she's come through it all right."

"No emotional-"

Booth put his hand up at this point.

"Seriously," said Veronica, "that's it?"

"Yep," said Booth, "I said that you could have two questions. You just asked two questions." Veronica let out an irritated sigh.

"Fine," she said, "fine. You take over now.

"Okay," said Booth, and then he looked at Mr. Anderson and said, "Did your wife have any emotional problems afterwards?"

"No," said Mr. Anderson, "no, not at all. May I ask, what does my wife's kidnapping have to do with the body that you found in the well at our old house?"

"Sorry, Mr. Anderson, we're just trying to cover all possible angles," said Veronica.

"Hey," said Booth, "that's my line."

"Well, I said, it first," said Veronica.

"Well don't next time," said Booth.

Veronica rolled her eyes.

"Did your wife ever find out who your kidnapper was?" asked Booth.

"No," said Mr. Anderson, "no, we didn't. She said that she didn't want to look for him, either."

"So you have no way of knowing if there could be a connection between your wife's kidnapping and the murder?" said Booth.

"Not that I know of, no," said Mr. Anderson, "you know what; my wife's going to be back later tonight. Why don't I tell her what's going on and have her give you a call, alright?"

"Yeah, that would probably be best," said Booth, "can you have her do that as soon as possible?" Booth wrote down his number and handed it to Mr. Anderson.

"Sure thing," said Mr. Anderson, "I hope everything works out for you."

"Yeah," said Booth, "thanks. We'll be leaving now."

Veronica and Booth got up and left the house. "I don't like it," said Veronica, "there's something off."

"Hey, sometimes, rarely, but sometimes kidnappers let their victims go," said Booth, "I've seen stuff like this happen before."

"Yes, but the woman doesn't suffer any damage after?" said Veronica.

"Some people are stronger than others," Booth rationalized.

"Okay, yes," said Veronica, "and some people focus on finding their kidnappers instead of grieving. This woman, according to her husband, hasn't done either. When people experience something like that, they either become incredibly scared, or they focus on getting revenge. Something's off."

"You know what," said Booth, "I say we shouldn't even be starting to connect the case with this woman before we know the identity of the victim. This family probably isn't even involved."

"Want to bet on that?" said Veronica.

Booth looked at her curiously. "How much?" he said.

"Ten bucks," said Veronica, "and, if I'm right, I get to be involved in the cases. I don't just get to sit there all summer long doing nothing."

"Fine," said Booth, "and if I win, you will do as I say all summer long."

"Fine," said Veronica, "so-if the woman is the killer, than I win. If someone else who isn't connected to the family in any way shape or form is the killer, you win."

"Deal," said Booth, "I'm looking forward to a summer of you being quiet and not doing anything."

"And I'm looking forward to a summer of being completely and totally involved in the cases," said Veronica, "come on Booth-it'll be fun."

"Yes," said Booth, "it will be fun-because you will be quiet. You will be quiet, and stuck in my office, and doing nothing but paperwork, getting my lunch, and making me coffee."

"Don't be so sure," said Veronica.

The two of them got into the car and then left.


	5. Picture on the fridge

_Disclaimer: I own absolutely, positively nothing. _

_A/N Sorry about the tazer thing in the last chapter-that's what happens when you haven't read your work in a while. _

Chapter Five

Picture on the fridge

Veronica walked down the hall that her apartment was in. When she reached hers, though, she found that the door was opened. Veronica paused, and took her tazer out, prepared to use it if necessary. Had she left the door opened? She didn't think so. Veronica remembered closing it, or at least she thought that she did. She walked slowly in.

Veronica looked around the living room, expecting something to be different. There wasn't anything, as far as she could find. What little she had in the apartment was all there, nothing taken or moved or anything.

She then walked slowly and quietly into her room. She opened the closet, and didn't even find anyone hiding in there, like she half expected him to do. She let out a sigh. Someone had been here but they hadn't taken anything? That didn't make any sense.

Knowing that there was nothing wrong with the room, Veronica headed out and closed the front door, a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. Who could have been in her apartment? Why would they have been there?

Veronica had her fair share of enemies. Sherriff Lamb, for instance wasn't a big fan. Nor was Jake or Celeste Kane….or a crazed Aaron Echolls fan….

Aaron Echolls was the man who had murdered Lilly Kane. He was a big time movie star, and had been the father of Veronica's boyfriend Logan. The two had been having an affair that had ended in Lilly's murder. Aaron hadn't been convicted, though, because the sex tapes that had been about him and Lilly had disappeared, and his celebrity status had, of course, helped. However, shortly after, Aaron Echolls had been killed by a mysterious shooter that had never been identified.

Aaron's daughter Trina, Logan's sister and an aspiring actress, had had a television movie made about the who scandal. Veronica and her Father, Keith Mars, who had kept on investigating the case even after his dismissal as sheriff, using his status as a private investigator to get information, hadn't let the movie executive's use their names, however Veronica had discovered long ago that crazed fans had a way of getting a hold of information when they wanted to.

Aaron Echolls, though dead, still had a lot of fans out there, and Veronica had had a bad encounter with one a few months ago. She'd received nasty stalker letters from them threatening her life.

Obviously though, that hadn't happened, but Veronica had gotten another letter just before she had gotten them.

Or maybe someone had just accidentally opened the door, though Veronica couldn't see how that would happen in any scenario.

Just then, Veronica heard her stomach rumble. It had been a while since she'd eaten. Booth had refused to stop to get food, claiming that he didn't allow people to eat in his car. Despite the fact that Veronica had seen food crumbs on his floor mats on the driver's side.

She'd checked personally.

Veronica went into her kitchen. She walked over to the fridge, and went to open it but paused before she did.

Something was different about the fridge.

Veronica had her list of things to do, a card with Booth's number on it, the directions to the F.B.I. office…..

That was when she noticed what was different. There, on the fridge, was a picture of her ex boyfriend, the runaway, Duncan Kane, and herself, from her sophomore year of high school, it looked like because Lilly, who had been Duncan's sister, was also in it.

Veronica took the picture off of the fridge, and looked at the back to see who the picture had belonged to.

Sure enough, in Duncan's handwriting, there was written-_Lilly, Veronica and I sophomore year. _

Someone was leaving her pictures of her ex-boyfriend. Her ex-boyfriend who happened to be wanted for kidnapping, and admittedly it was kidnapping his own kid from her mentally abusive grandparents, so it wasn't as bad, but it was still kidnapping. Oh yeah, and he was also the boyfriend that Veronica had helped with his whole kidnapping thing, and who she hadn't heard from in a year.

Why was someone sneaking into her pictures and leaving her images of Duncan Kane just as she got an internship at the F.B.I?

Were the agents that had been investigating the kidnapping of Duncan's daughter trying to send Veronica a message?

Except Veronica was pretty certain that she had thrown them off of her trail, and there was no way they could have made a connection between Duncan and her.

Veronica took out her cell phone and called Booth. "Yeah, it's Booth," he said into the phone.

"Booth," she said, "it's Veronica. Someone broke into my apartment. Can you please come over and look?"

"Someone broke into your apartment?" said Booth. "Are you okay? Is your place okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," said Veronica, "can you just please and come and check it, please?"

"Was anything taken?" he asked.

"No," said Veronica, "not that I can tell."

"Broken?" asked Booth.

"No," said Veronica.

"Is the person who broke in still there?" asked Booth.

"No, but-"said Veronica.

"There's no point in my going then," said Booth.

"Look, Booth," said Veronica, "I know you don't like me, for whatever reason, but can you PLEASE just come over and check out my apartment? Something is off and I don't want to look by myself."

There was a moment of silence.

"Alright," said Booth, "alright. I'll be there in fifteen minutes. Bye."

"Thank you," said Veronica, "bye."

Veronica hung up the phone and put it in her pocket. She put the picture on the counter. Then she went through the apartment a second time as she waited for Booth, and she tried to figure out if there was anything else that was different.

When Booth came in, he found her looking underneath her couch. "Wh-what are you doing?" Booth asked.

"I'm looking for something that the person who entered the apartment could have left or taken," said Veronica, and she put down the seat of the couch and looked up at Booth, saying, "there's only one thing I can find."

Veronica pointed to the counter where the picture was.

Booth headed over to the counter. He looked at a picture.

"It's a picture of you and….is that Lilly Kane, the girl that they thought the Aaron Echolls guy murdered?" said Booth.

"Yes, but that's not the point," said Veronica, "I used to date him, the guy in the photograph. He's her brother and…."

"And what?" said Booth.

Veronica hesitated. Did she dare tell him about her involvement with the Duncan thing? She didn't think so. That would be a sure way to get her kicked out of the F.B.I. internship program and she didn't want to do that, especially when she had worked so hard to get there.

"My last year of high school Duncan got a girl pregnant and the girl died after she gave birth. The baby was supposed to be in the custody of her grandparents, and they didn't want Duncan involved because of his crazy family. But the family was apparently abusive to their kids, or so Duncan had found out, and one thing led to another and somehow Duncan kidnapped his daughter from her grandparents and fled to who knows where," Veronica explained, leaving details out so she didn't get kicked out of the program, "and people thought…because Duncan and I were dating at the time….that I helped him. We broke up before this though. But when I got home today, that was on my fridge."

Booth looked at the picture.

"Maybe your ex is trying to send you a message," said Booth, "let you know that he's okay."

"Maybe," said Veronica, "I did get a call, and it was playing our song. Except that I don't think Duncan would do that."

"Why's that?" said Booth.

"Because he dated me," said Veronica simply, "my Dad's a private investigator. I worked after school for him as a 'receptionist' but I also worked on his cases. I learned a thing or two from him and Duncan learned a thing or two from me. He wouldn't contact me; he knows that they could find him that way. They wouldn't risk his daughter's safety."

"Okay then," said Booth "is there anyone else who could have done this?"

"I don't know," said Veronica, "that's why I called you."

"Hmmm," said Booth, "why don't we take this into the lab tomorrow? Maybe we can get Angela to find a finger print or something, just to make you feel better, but if you ask me, it's probably nothing. Probably just you're ex lover boy trying to leave you a message, like I said before."

"Yeah, yeah," said Veronica, "sure-thanks Booth."

"You're welcome," said Booth, "are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine," said Veronica, "I'm certain."

"Okay then," said Booth, "want me to take the picture so it's not sitting there creeping you out?"

"That'd be nice," said Veronica, "bye Booth."

"Bye, Veronica," said Booth. Booth grabbed the photograph and left with it, closing the door behind him.

Veronica looked around her apartment, not feeling safe at all. She decided that she was going to keep her tazer with her for the rest of the night.

_A/N So there it is. Someone's messing with Veronica…the question is, why? And is it friend or foe? Dun, dun, dun. _


	6. FingerPrint on the Picture

_Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing. _

Chapter Six

Finger Print on the Picture

Booth walked into Angela's office first thing that morning. Veronica had been shaken by last night's incident, with the break in into her apartment, and he was doing it mostly to humor her. At the same time though, Booth thought that it was more than a little weird that her ex-boyfriends photograph had been the only thing left in the apartment especially considering the strange nature of why he had left town.

"Hey Angela," Booth greeted her. She was busy working on something for the woman in the well case, the drawing reconstruction of the skulls face.

"Hey Booth," said Angela, "I'm almost done with the drawing. It should be done in a while."

"I'm actually not here for that," said Booth, "I was wondering if you could get a fingerprint off of this." He held up the photograph of Veronica, her ex-boyfriend, and her friend which he had put in a plastic baggy so that nothing else would get on it.

"One of Veronica's pictures?" said Angela. "Booth, isn't that a little stalkery?"

"No, no, it's not like that," said Booth, "someone broke into Veronica's apartment last night. This was the only thing that was different about the apartment."

"I don't get it," said Angela, "why would she be worried? Obviously one of her friends is in town and it's their own, creepy way of letting them know."

"Veronica didn't seem to think so," said Booth, "look at the girl."

Angela looked closely at the girl. "Oh wow," said Angela, "is that Lilly Kane, the girl that Aaron Echolls was accused of murdering?"

"Yep," said Booth, "it's the guy that's interesting though-"

"He's good looking, for a kid," said Angela, "but what's so interesting about him?"

"That's Lilly Kane's brother," said Booth, "Duncan Kane. Veronica dated him. Apparently he got a girl pregnant and the girl died. The grandparents had custody of the kid, which would have been fine, except Duncan was convinced that the people were abusing their own kids, so he didn't want that. Anyway the kid ran away, taking his daughter with him going off to god knows where."

"Wow," said Angela, "your intern sure knows how to pick 'em."

"Apparently," said Angela, "so Veronica's worried someone's trying to scare her or something?"

"Yes," said Booth, "so can you do me a favor and check it?"

"Sure," said Angela. She took the picture from him. "I'll get this to you when I can, alright?"

"Thanks," said Booth.

Booth left Angela's office and headed to where Veronica was, which for some strange reason was where Hodgins was. "So let me get this straight," said Veronica, "you can tell where the victim's been just by looking at the dirt in her shoe?"

"Uh huh," said Hodgins, "see, some types of dirt can only be found in certain areas, and if the place has rare rocks in it, then it makes it all the more easier to narrow down. The same with bugs."

"Wow," said Veronica, "your job is kind of gross. No offense, Hodgins."

"None taken," Hodgins said.

"Good," said Veronica, smiling. There was the sound of something being knocked over. Veronica, Booth and Hodgins saw Zack bending down to pick up something that he'd dropped. Veronica bent down to help him.

"Oh," said Zack, "you really don't need to do it."

"No, it's okay," said Veronica. "I really don't mind."

"Oh," said Zack, "alright."

Veronica handed him the last of what it was that had been knocked over-it looked like marbles or something.

Zack stood there, simply staring at Veronica for a moment.

"Um," said Veronica, "are you alright?"

"Me?" said Zack. "Do you mean physically or mentally because sometimes people aren't specific."

Veronica looked at Booth.

"Um, is he serious?" she asked.

"I wish I could say he weren't," said Booth.

Veronica looked at Zack. "Um, both, I guess," said Veronica.

"Oh, I'm fine physically," said Zack, "I just had a check up with my doctor and he says I'm in perfect health. Mentally I suppose that I'm fine too, although I haven't had a professional check on that, so I can't be absolutely certain. Andyoulookveryprettytoday." The last bit was said so fast that Veronica didn't get it.

"Um," she said, "what was that?"

"Sorry," said Zack, "I spoke to fast. What I said was, you look very pretty today."

"Um, thanks," said Veronica.

"Okay, okay," said Booth, "let's go. This is sickening."

Booth dragged Veronica off.

"Hey, hey," she said, "you can let me go now."

"Oh, sorry," said Booth.

Booth let Veronica's arm go. "You know, business and pleasure don't mix," said Booth.

"Um, yeah," said Veronica, "I know. What does that have to do with Zack?"

"Wow," said Booth, "you get people about as well as Brennan."

"What does that mean?" said Veronica.

"Never mind," said Booth.

If Veronica didn't have the idea in her head, Booth certainly wasn't going to put the idea there. The less distracted his intern was the better.

"Come on," said Booth, "we've got to go and interview the family."

"What about Brennan?" said Veronica, "Don't we have to take her with us?"

"We're not taking her with us," said Booth, "she's looking over the skeleton today, and she's got some interview thing for her book or something."

"Wait," said Veronica, "does this mean that I actually get to be involved with the case today?"

"Of course," said Booth, "this bet won't work if we're not both involved."

"Oh thank god," said Veronica.

"We're going to go and try to interview those people again," said Booth.

"Interviews with people about murders-yay!" Veronica exclaimed.

"What was that?" said Booth.

"Erm, sorry," said Veronica, "that was my ex-pep squad self coming out."

"Can you not let that happen again?" said Booth. "That's just creepy."

"Yeah, don't worry it won't," said Veronica, "it was kind of creepy for me too. It was all done in sarcasm, if that helps."

"Not really," said Booth.

The two of them headed out to the car and they drove to the Anderson's house. Booth and Veronica got out of the car and then went up to the front door and knocked. The door opened, and Mr. Campbell answered.

"Oh hi," he said, "I assume you're here looking for my wife."

"Yes," said Booth, "we are. Is she home today?"

"Sorry," he said, "not right now. She's been working really late and that's where she is now, still. I think she's avoiding me."

"Did this by chance start when we came by and asked you questions about the body that you found in the well?" said Booth. "Just out of curiosity."

"Yeah actually it did," he said, "but you know she's worked like this before. It doesn't have anything to do with that body that you found. It can't. No one we know has gone missing or anything….I know what you're thinking but trust me, it's just a coincidence."

"You don't seem so sure considering you sound like you're trying to convince yourself," said Booth, "can you please tell me where your wife works?"

Mr. Anderson sighed. "The grocery store in town," he said, "it's the only one, on the main street. You shouldn't have any trouble finding it."

"Thanks," said Booth.

"Off to the grocery store?" said Veronica.

"Yes," said Booth, "off to the grocery store."

The two of them got in the car and headed that way. They got out and headed into the grocery store and Veronica and Booth headed in. Veronica walked up to one of the workers, and asked, "Do you know where Mrs. Anderson is?"

"Amy?" said the worker.

"Um, sure," said Veronica.

"She came in this morning, collected her pay check, and then left," said the worker, "she said she was going out of town for a while."

"Did she say-"Veronica started to say.

"Did she say where?" Booth went over her question.

"Booth," said Veronica, glaring at her boss.

"Hey," said Booth, "I am the agent investigating this case. I should get to ask at least one question."

"Child," said Veronica.

"Pot calling the kettle black," said Booth.

"Very funny," said Veronica, sticking her tongue out at him on impulse and then realizing how stupid it was of her to do that after what they had just said.

"Like I said," said Booth, smiling, "pot calling the kettle black." Booth turned back and looked at the worker. "Sorry about that," said Booth, "new intern. Anyway, as I said, did Mrs. Anderson say where she was going?"

"No," said the worker.

"Did she by chance leave a number that you could reach her at?"

"No."

"Alright," said Booth, "thanks."

Veronica turned and looked at Booth. "Hmmm," said Veronica, "it seems that the woman is looking more guilty….guess who's winning the bet?" Booth let out a sigh.

"Yes, but she could have had a family emergency or anything," said Booth.

"How about I do a search on our Miss Amy Anderson and try and figure out what dirty secrets the girl has in her past?" suggested Veronica.

"I was planning on making you do that anyway," said Booth, "its part of your job as an intern, to do stuff that I don't want to do….like cleaning my office, which is what you will be doing when we get back to it."

"Hey," said Veronica, "I'm not your maid."

"No," said Booth, "but you do want me to write a good recommendation for you when you're done with your whole internship, right?"

"Hey," said Veronica, "that's not fair."

"Yeah, it is," said Booth, "I have to put up with you for three months. I think that's a fair trade off."

"There a code of conduct for how to treat interns?" said Veronica. "Because if there is, I think that you should read it, thoroughly, and take notes and keep them with you like this at all times….I'm sure Brennan doesn't treat Zack like this."

"You don't know that," said Booth.

"Why don't I just ask her when we get back?" asked Veronica, "I bet you she knows how to treat interns better then you do."

"Alright then," said Booth, "we'll ask her when we go to see her later when she or one of The Squints has something for us."

"Okay then," said Veronica, "we will."

"Come on," he said, "let's-"

His cell phone rang just then. "Booth," he said into the phone.

"Hey Booth, its Angela," came Angela's voice into the phone, "I got a finger print off of Veronica's picture that was unusual."

"Oh, that's great," said Booth "thanks Angela. Whose was it?"

"Stewart Manning," Angela answered, "the father of the girl Duncan Kane got pregnant."

"So, that'd be the baby's grandfather?" said Booth. "The one who wanted to keep the kid?"

"Yep," said Angela.

"Thanks Angela," said Booth, "I'll tell Veronica."

"You're welcome Booth," said Angela, and she hung up. Booth turned off his cell phone and looked with Veronica.

"Who was it?" asked Veronica.

"That was Angela," said Booth, "she got a finger print off of that picture that was in your apartment. It belonged to Stewart Manning."

A worried look crossed Veronica's face. "What?" said Booth, "Is that a bad thing?"

"No," snapped Veronica, "of course not. I told you I don't know anything about that situation. It's just weird that Meg's Dad would have a picture of Duncan, Lilly, and I and that he would sneak into my apartment and put it there."

"Are you sure you don't know anything about that?" said Booth. "Like where Duncan is, for instance."

"I'm positive," said Veronica, "Stewart Manning probably still thinks that I do, so he was just trying to scare me. Look, can we drop this and just go back to the office? I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Yeah, yeah," said Booth, "sure thing."

Booth and Veronica got into the car and headed back to the office to do some research on the case, Veronica with a worried look on her face the whole time. Perhaps Veronica was just worried about her ex being found and being put in jail.

Along with the kid ending up in the wrong hands if the Manning's actually were abusers.

However, from the very short time he'd spent with Veronica, Booth was beginning to think that Veronica was too smart for her own good, and that maybe she had been involved with helping Duncan Kane escape.

After all, hadn't it been Veronica who had said that Duncan had learned more than a few tricks from her from her private investigative work?

Perhaps Booth should find out a little more about Veronica, just to see what the girl was capable of. Maybe he would look into her file, the one that his boss had. If Veronica was involved in something she shouldn't be, he needed to know.

People working in the F.B.I. shouldn't have secrets from each other. It made working together too difficult and it could put the other in a dangerous situation.

_A/N So, there's chapter six. Yes, Booth IS going to look into Veronica's file, something that I had been planning to do for a while now, I just needed for him to have a REASON to look into Veronica's file, since he doesn't really care about his intern. If the mystery seems slow, I'm sorry, but I'm working on it. Don't worry we'll find out more about Amy Anderson thanks to Veronica's sleuthing methods. _


	7. Veronica, in a neat little package

_Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing. _

Chapter Seven

It's Veronica, all in a neat little package

Later that day, Booth headed to his boss's office and knocked on the door. "Hey boss," he said, "are you busy?"

"No, Booth," he said, "not at all. What can I do you for?"

"What can you tell me about Veronica Mars?"

The Director of the F.B.I. smiled at Booth. "Finally curious about your intern, are you?" said the Director.

"Not so much curious as worried," said Booth, "I think she might be….you know what, never mind. Can I see the file though?"

"Sure," said the Director.

He got up from his seat behind his desk and he walked over to his file drawer and rummaged through it, looking for Veronica's case file. Finally, he managed to pull it out and he handed it over to Booth. "There you go," said the Director, "it's Veronica Mars-all in a nice, neat little package. Everything you could possibly need to know about this girl is in this little envelope."

"So, what, high school extracurricular?" said Booth, "First after school job? A letter of recommendation from her freshman poetry teacher?"

The Director let out a laugh. "Well," he said, "I suppose you could say that it's something like that."

Booth rolled his eyes. "Great," he said, "well, this is going to be an interesting read."

"I think," said the Director, "that you will find it to be the most damned interesting file you'll ever have to read on an intern."

Booth laughed.

"Yeah, sure," he said, taking the file from the Director.

"Speaking of Veronica," said the Director, "where is she?"

"She's looking up information on The Woman in the Well case," answered Booth.

"In other words, work that you're avoiding?" said the Director.

"Uh huh," said Booth, "that's the only thing that I like about having an intern."

"That's the entire point of having one," said the Director, "go and read that file though. I think you'll find it more than interesting."

"We'll see about that," said Booth.

Booth headed out of the room and headed to his office. Veronica was sitting at Booth's desk, working on his computer doing a search on Amy Anderson. Veronica looked up when she saw Booth. "Hey," she said, "what's that is that on the case?"

"No," said Booth, "this is actually about you."

"Me?" said Veronica. "You're finally reading my case file?"

"Yes," said Booth.

"Hmmm," said Veronica, "you're day just got a little bit more interesting."

"Someone thinks very highly of herself," said Booth.

"Well, I am me," said Veronica, smiling, "and I think I'm fairly wonderful."

"Yeah, yeah," said Booth, "wake me if I fall asleep reading this."

Veronica rolled her eyes and then turned back to the computer so that she could continue doing her internet search.

Booth settled into a chair in his office and started reading the file.

"….._Veronica Mars is the daughter of Keith Mars. Keith Mars was the Sheriff of Neptune, up until he wrongly accused Jake Kane of murdering his own daughter, Lilly Kane, who was also Veronica's best friend…." _

"…_Veronica, while dating Logan Echolls, discovered the sex tape of Lilly Kane and Aaron Echolls that would have put Aaron Echolls in prison had it not gone missing…" _

"…_her senior year started with a bang as a bus with students from her school was blown up because someone placed a bomb on it…." _

"_Miss Mars was able to figure out a connection between all the students on the bus…." _

"_She discovered it was Cassidy Casablanca's, who was trying to make certain that his fellow students wouldn't divulge information about…." _

"_Veronica first became aware of the rapes at Hearst College during her first visit to the college to tour it. A friend of Veronica's became the key suspect, and she ended up clearing him of all charges….she continued on with the case once she got to Hearst and one of her friends had become a victim of the rapist…" _

"_The rapist was using GHB to drug the girls. Veronica found coasters that could be used to test for drugs…by using the coasters; Veronica was able to find the girl that was going to be raped next. She went after the girl and ended up finding out that the rapist was, Mercer, who had previously been suspected before but had been cleared. With the evidence Veronica had found, the suspect was convicted and sentenced to prison…" _

"_Dean O' Dell, the Dean of Hearst College, was found murdered sometime later…" _

"_The Dean had worked with Miss Mars's father on a case, and had been impressed by Veronica's work on the rape murders…" _

"_Veronica became determined to figure out who the murderer was…" _

"_All signs seemed to point to the Dean's wife who was a younger woman who the Dean had previously suspected of having an affair…" _

"_The wife had indeed been having an affair with one of the Professor's at the school, Veronica's own criminology teacher, Professor Hank Landry." _

"_Miss Mars had discovered this previously and the Dean had been told by Veronica's Father. Because of this, and the note on the Dean's computer, the murder had originally been thought to be a suicide." _

"_All signs seemed to point to either the wife, or the criminology professor." _

"_The wife looked more guiltier, as Professor Landry thought, which was why he ended up killing Mrs. O' Dell…" _

"_However, it was soon discovered that Timothy Foil, Professor Landry's assistant, had been the one that had done the murder, in an attempt to set up Professor Landry…" _

"…_.earlier on in the year, the students in Landry's class had been asked to write Perfect Murder essays. Veronica's had been a stand out essay. Timothy Foil, having read the paper as Professor Landry's assistant, had gotten the idea for the murder from them. Veronica had ended figuring it all out and Mr. Foil has since been arrested and is in jail for the crime." _

Booth looked up at the file, amazed at what he had read. Those had just been the important cases that Veronica had been involved with in trying to solve. Perhaps he had underestimated Veronica Mars.

"Hey," said Veronica, "I've got a bunch of information I've sent to myself and I'm going to read at home. It's late. Can I go, or do you need me to shine your shoes or something?"

She paused, and then she added, "I was kidding about the shining your shoes thing."

"Really, because they're looking a little dirty and-"

"I will get out my tazer," she said threateningly.

"Right," he said, "I was kidding. Go on home kid."

"Thanks, Booth," said Veronica.

"You're paying for it in the morning," he said, "I'm picking you up and it's going to be nice and early."

Veronica sighed. "Intern abuse," she said.

"Deal with it," he said, "go, now, before I change my mind."

Veronica sighed and headed out of the office.

Booth looked back at the file. The letter of recommendation from her criminology professor, the one who had been suspected of the Deans murder, was also in there. So was the letter of recommendation from Dean O' Dell, the Dean that had been murdered.

Veronica could most definitely have helped Duncan Kane escape being arrested. She was smart enough to do it. Veronica, of course, had denied having any involvement but after reading the file, Booth seriously doubted it.

The only question was, had Stewart Manning figured out Veronica's involvement and was he going to do more to Veronica rather than just leave pictures in her apartment? What of the Duncan Kane kid?

Perhaps Booth would do some digging on his own about this case.

Veronica had managed to make it home. Sitting in her apartment, she overlooked the information on Amy Anderson she had found when she had been doing her search. Amy Anderson, as it turned out, had no living relatives. Her Mother and Father had both died in a car wreck, and Amy herself had spent her time growing up in foster homes. Eventually she was adopted by a nice family, the Carters. The Carters, unfortunately, had both died a while ago.

There was nothing in Amy Anderson's past to suggest that she could murder someone. She didn't have a criminal record, not even a traffic violation.

Of course, sometimes it was the people you would least suspect who made the perfect killers. After all, hadn't Timothy Foil seemed completely normal? He had, and he'd ended up murdering Dean O' Dell.

Veronica kept on looking back over Amy's information. There had to be something to connect her to the dead body that they had found.

That was when she remembered something. The article on Amy's parents death. Veronica rummaged through her pile of information and she found it.

Amy Anderson, prior to being married, had been Amy Smith. Amy Smith had been the daughter of Allison and Jeff Smith. In the article, it said, "Allison and Jeff Smith are survived by their two daughters."

Two daughters-that meant that somewhere Amy Anderson had a sister, someone who had probably been lost somewhere in the foster system. Veronica had heard of that sort of thing happening, and when she'd worked for her Dad helping him with his P.I. cases, more than once they'd been asked to track down a long lost sibling.

Veronica took out her cell phone and dialed Booth's number.

"Hey Booth," said Veronica, "I found something interesting about Amy Anderson."

"What?" asked Booth.

"It seems Amy Anderson has a sister," said Veronica.

"How did you find that out?" asked Booth.

"It was mentioned in the obituary for her parents," said Veronica, "in the article, it says that The Smiths-Amy's maiden name-are survived by their _two _daughters."

"Does it mention the other daughter's name?" said Booth.

"No," said Veronica, "my guess is that they were separated in the foster system and lost track of each other though. If they found each other after, Amy might have headed there when she realized that she was considered as a suspect."

"Thanks for finding that out Veronica," said Booth, "I'll start trying to find the sister. Hey-did you get any more surprises from the Manning's when you got home?"

Veronica was surprised by this question.

"What?" she said. "Um no, I haven't really given any thought about it though. Then again, I haven't noticed anything. So I suppose there haven't been, and besides I locked my apartment this morning."

"Okay," said Booth, "just wondering."

"Alright Booth," she said, "I'll see you in the morning. Don't worry about that picture thing though. It was probably just a onetime thing or something."

"Sure," said Booth, "sure, sure. Bye Veronica."

"Bye."

Both of them hung up their phones. Veronica put the information that she had found out about Amy Anderson on the small table that was right next to the couch. She then got up and walked over to the counter where her mail was and she looked through it. There was nothing of interest. A bill from Hearst, some random advertisements….

There was one thing though, a small package. Veronica opened it up. It was a C.D.

Veronica hesitated and then she took the C.D. and put it in the c.d. player.

"….Earlier today there was a bus crash involving Neptune High students-"

Veronica stopped the c.d. It was a recording of a news cast about the bus crash that had cost Meg Manning her life in the end.

Stewart Manning was trying to guilt her into telling the truth about where Duncan Kane was. The only question was how had he found out where she was? There was also another question-if he had found out where she was, was he here in Washington D.C? And exactly how close was Stewart Manning?


	8. Interns in the lab, part two

_Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing. _

Chapter Eight

'Interns in the lab, part two'

"I can't believe he just left me here!" Veronica exclaimed, pacing back and forth. "I mean, the whole point of me making that stupid bet was so that I could be involved. I was the one who found out the information in the first place. I did the searching. This isn't fair."

Veronica was in Angela's office. Early this morning, Booth had picked her up and dropped her off there and left her there without a word. He hadn't told her where he was going or what he was doing. He had just picked Brennan up and then told her to stay there in the lab until he got back.

"Booth didn't tell you?" said Angela. Veronica stopped her pacing and cocked her head to the side and looked at Angela curiously.

"Tell me what?" Veronica demanded.

"It didn't have to do with this case," said Angela.

"What do you mean, it didn't have to do with this case?" asked Veronica.

"Booth said something about it being a personal matter," said Angela.

"What personal matter?" said Veronica.

"I don't know," said Angela, "he didn't tell me."

"If it was a personal matter, why take Brennan?" said Veronica. A suspicious look crossed her face. "Hmmm….are Brennan and Booth-"

"No, they're not a couple," said Angela.

"They should be," said Veronica, "the sexual tension between those two is enough to drive anyone crazy."

"Yeah, well," said Angela, "try having to deal with that for several years. It's not fun. You should have seen the two of them when they first started working together. They were impossible to deal with and Booth is practically mature compared to how he was back then."

"Really?" said Veronica, arching an eyebrow.

"Uh huh," said Angela, "it was like watching two teenagers. Of course, Brennan is completely oblivious and doesn't realize any of it."

"Yeah, she's not really good at the whole noticing thing," said Veronica, "I mean, obviously when it comes to her work, she is, but not with the whole relationship thing."

"I could say the same thing about you," said Angela.

Veronica looked at her in curiosity. "You've got to be kidding me," said Veronica, "what haven't I noticed?"

"You haven't noticed a certain other intern, looking at you with puppy dog eyes and dropping things every time that you enter the room?" said Angela.

"Uh," said Veronica, "no, not really."

"You are just as bad as Brennan," said Angela.

"It's very nice, you trying to set up the interns," said Veronica, "sweet, actually. But boys and I-we're not exactly on good terms right now."

"Right, right," said Angela, "Booth told me about the ex-boyfriend with the baby from the dead girlfriend and the kidnapping thing."

"Well," said Veronica, "my guy list isn't exactly good, so I'm taking a boy hiatus."

"Oh come on," said Angela, "Zack likes you. He's a good guy. You can't go wrong with Zack."

"Angela, my first boyfriend ended up getting a girl knocked up and kidnapping him," said Veronica, "and then I dated said boyfriends friend, Troy, who turned out to be a drugie, and then I dated Logan, my best dead friends ex and my first boyfriends sister, who ended up having a major melt down, and I broke up, and got back together with him several times, and then I dated Piz-"

"Wait, wait, wait," said Angela, "you dated someone who was actually named _Piz?" _

"Don't ask," said Veronica, "Anyway, Piz was nice and normal and then I pissed off some Skull and Bones type group and they then were able to post a rather risky video of me and said boyfriend Piz and then, after that, my ex beat Piz up because he thought Piz was the one who posted it. So I severed ties with Logan, the ex that beat up Piz and yelled at him, and then after that things with Piz were all tense and weird so needless to say, I'm giving up on guys."

"Wow," said Angela, "and I thought my dating history was bad."

"Sadly enough," said Veronica, "the boy that's the kidnapper and the one who got the girl pregnant and has a kid?"

"Yeah?" said Angela.

"Most stable relationship ever," said Veronica.

"Wow," said Angela, "I'm feeling slightly superior. And I got married on an island, while drunk."

"Really?" said Veronica, looking at Angela in surprise.

"Yes," said Angela, "don't ask. The drinks that I had that night were _particularly _strong."

"Hmmm," said Veronica. She then started pacing again. "Booth could have at least given me something to do so that I wasn't just sitting here."

"Well," said Angela, "you could help Zack."

Veronica looked at Angela. "Angela," she said, "you're not trying to set me up or anything would you?"

"Hey," said Angela, "you're the one that's bored. I'm just giving you suggestions."

"What's he doing?" asked Veronica. 

"Rebuilding old skulls from the civil war," said Angela.

"Really?" said Veronica. "Is that anything like doing a puzzle?"

"Um," said Angela, "kind of except you know, a lot harder."

"Okay," said Veronica, "I will go and help Zack. But I swear, Angela, if I end up locked in a room mysteriously, or there is somehow a love song playing on the radio or something cheesy like that I swear, Angela, I will kill you or at the very least tazer you."

"Always with the tazer," said Angela, "I think you have anger issues."

Veronica smiled. "You have no idea," she said.

"Don't scare Zack," said Angela.

"Wasn't planning on it," Veronica called as she headed out the door.

Veronica headed off to Zack's little office where he was, indeed, putting together skulls. "Wow," said Veronica, "this is so nothing like a puzzle. You don't even have pictures to help you figure out where they go."

At the sound of her voice, Zack jumped and turned around to face her.

"Uh, Miss Mars," said Zack, "what are you doing here?"

"Miss Mars?" said Veronica, wrinkling her nose. "Seriously-do I look like a Miss Mars?"

"Well," said Zack, "you are Veronica Mars. So that would mean that you're a Miss Mars."

"Wow," said Veronica, "you take everything very literal."

"I'm sorry," said Zack, "I'm not very good with people."

"It's okay," said Veronica, "so um, do you need help? Because Booth left me here and I don't really have anything to do and I'm going crazy just sitting here doing nothing."

"You're not sitting, you're standing," said Zack.

Veronica just smiled. "Right," she said, "so, can I help you?"

"Um I don't think-"

"I don't bite," said Veronica, "honest."

Zack sighed. "I didn't think you did," said Zack, "it's just that…well…you…"

Veronica heard a tapping sound just then and looked down. She realized that the tapping sound was Zack's hand shaking as he held a small piece of skull bone. "Zack, are you alright?"

"I have to…go," said Zack quickly and Zack put down the piece of skull bone in his hand and then he quickly left the room. Veronica watched him go, looking at him in complete and total surprise. Did she really have that much of an effect on Zack? Veronica had never thought that she'd had that much of an effect on anyone.

Veronica felt bad about scaring Zack off and when she looked back at the skull she decided that she was going to put the skull together for Zack.

Zack himself, once out of his small lab area, started breathing heavily. He was completely unused to spending so much time in close proximity with a girl that he actually liked. Usually, he barely even got close to them because he was too shy to talk to them.

He took a second and looked at his watch. It was one o' clock, time for lunch. Zack thought of Veronica back there, in his office. Well, she was going to be there for the entire summer. He couldn't just avoid her. He was going to have to interact with her sometimes.

Well, it was time for lunch. There was no reason that he couldn't ask Veronica to lunch as colleagues. They did work together, of course, and they were working on the same case, so that would give them plenty of things to discuss. Booth and Brennan worked together and they sometimes had lunch together.

If it was appropriate for the two of them, it had to be appropriate for him and Veronica. Besides, he would make certain that she knew that it was nothing more than a lunch between friends. After all, Zack was a realist. He knew that there was a very slim possibility of Veronica actually being interest in him, and he wasn't going to entertain the idea of something he knew that wasn't going to happen.

Zack took a deep breath and headed back into his lab. Much to his surprise, Veronica was still there, and on the table was a completely finished skull. Admittedly, there hadn't been much left to do when he was gone, but still it was completely finished.

"Oh hey," said Veronica, "you came back. I'm glad. I was worried that I'd scared you off completely. Honestly, I don't try to make you nervous; I really did want to help. I finished the skull for you because I figured it was the least that I could do."

Zack walked slowly and cautiously over to the table where the skull was. He examined it and tried to find something wrong with it. Much to his surprise, everything was exactly where it was supposed to be. "Well," he said, "this is exact."

"Oh, good," said Veronica, "I'm glad."

"Would you like to accompany me to lunch?" said Zack. "As colleagues, of course or co-workers or whatever term you wish to use-I have seen Dr. Brennan and Booth do it often so I know that it is okay to do that. Do not feel obligated to, though. I just thought that it would be nice for us to do…as colleagues."

Veronica realized for the first time that she was actually hungry, and she didn't really have anything better to do and Zack, despite his awkwardness, did seem nice enough. She wouldn't mind spending the afternoon with him having a nice lunch. After all, considering all her boy disasters she could use a guy who was just a friend.

"Sure," said Veronica, "that would be nice. Let me just tell Angela where we're going in case Booth calls and freaks out because I'm not here."

"Really?" said Zack. "That would be nice?"

"Yes," said Veronica.

"Um, okay," said Zack.

"I'll be back in a minute," she said.

Veronica headed over to Angela's office. "Hey," she said, "Zack and I are going to go get lunch."

Angela smiled a little too innocently for Veronica's liking. "Lunch, huh?" said Angela. "Enjoy yourselves."

"Stop," said Veronica, "no insinuations. It's purely innocent. Look, if Booth calls can you tell him where I went so he doesn't start being all-Booth?"

"Sure," said Angela, "but you know, Booth's not going to be happy about this."

Veronica rolled her eyes. "It's nothing," said Veronica, "it's just lunch."

"Sure, sweetie," said Angela, "you keep on telling yourself that."

Veronica sighed and grabbed her things from Angela's office and then she and Zack headed off to go and grab something to eat, while Veronica tried to ignore Angela's comments swirling in the back of her mind. It was nothing. It was like Zack said, just a lunch between two colleagues. Besides, Veronica was on a boy break.

Right?

Meanwhile, Dr. Temperance Brennan sat in the passenger seat of the Booth's car as they drove to god knows where. "Okay," said Brennan, "Booth, I really don't understand exactly where it is that we're going."

"We," said Booth, "are going to go and visit Duncan Kane's family-his aunt and uncle. I told you that."

"I know," said Brennan, "but what I don't understand is why. If the boy is on the run and they know something, they're obviously not going to tell us, especially you. I mean, you're a fed."

"We're not going to ask where Duncan is," said Booth, "I could care less where the Kane kid is. I'm just going to tell them that Stewart Manning is leaving threatening messages for Veronica, and maybe they can deliver it to the Kane kid if they know where he is, and then the Kane kid will give himself up so that Stewart Manning will stop trying to freak out my intern."

"You're awfully worried for someone who claims to not like your intern," said Brennan.

"Hey, just because I don't like her doesn't mean that I want her dead," said Booth, "she is a pain in my rear but it does not mean that I like some freak sneaking into her apartment and trying to scare her."

"Uh huh," said Brennan a smile crossing her face, "you know, if I didn't know any better, I would say that you were starting to respect Veronica. If you don't, you really should. I mean, she's a very bright young woman. She'll go very far in her career."

"Hey," said Booth, "I'm not starting to respect her. She is an intern. She hasn't done anything to earn my respect."

"Well, she saved me," said Brennan, "and I'm your partner. I'd say that should get her some respect. Oh, and she found us a lead on the case-you know, the thing about Mrs. Anderson having a sister. That should get her some respect."

"Look, I respect her," said Booth, "I just don't respect her too much. I mean she hasn't done her part yet."

"And when, exactly, will she have done her part?" Brennan asked.

"When I say she has," said Booth.

"You know, that's not a very mature answer," Brennan commented.

Booth just rolled his eyes and kept on driving. They reached the Kane house, and it was about time. The drive had taken them several hours. Booth and Brennan got out of the car and they headed up to the house.

Booth knocked on the door and was met by an elder, matronly looking high society woman. She looked at them for a moment.

"We're not interested in buying anything," she said automatically, starting to close the door on them. Booth rolled his eyes and put his hand on the door to stop it from closing.

"We're not here to sell you anything ma'am," said Booth, and at this point he took his badge out from his pocket, "I'm Agent Seeley Booth from the F.B.I. This here is my partner, Doctor Temperance Brennan. We'd like to speak to you about something."

The woman's face changed automatically. "From the F.B.I?" she said. "This isn't about Celeste and Jake's boy, is it?"

"Something like that," said Brennan.

"Come on in, come on in," said the woman, ushering them inside. Once in the house, they were taken to the living room and they took a seat on one of the couches and the woman took a seat on the other one.

"Is Duncan in trouble?" asked the woman. "Did they finally catch up to him? Is he-is he dead?"

"No ma'am," said Booth, "nothing so horrible. This really concerns an acquaintance of Duncan's."

"An acquaintance?" said the woman.

"Yes," said Booth, "do you know a Veronica Mars?"

"Veronica Mars," said the woman, "the name does sound familiar….oh, that was the name of Duncan's little girlfriend. Yes, he was seeing her at the time that he disappeared. Celeste was none too pleased. She's not exactly a fan of Veronica."

"Hmmm," said Booth, "well, you see we came here about her. That same girl is being threatened by someone Duncan is involved with."

"Really?" said the woman. "Who?"

"The Manning's," said Booth, "the other grandparents of Duncan's child. They seem to think that Veronica was involved in helping Duncan vanish and that she might know where he is."

"That's ridiculous," said the woman, "they broke up before he left."

"Yes," said Booth, "we know that. The thing is The Manning's don't get it. They've been leaving her some threats. So you see miss, if you by any chance should here from Duncan, or know where he is and how to contact him, could you please tell him to turn himself in? Before something bad happens to Veronica?"

A strange look crossed the woman's face.

"Well Agent Booth," she said, "as you know I have absolutely no idea where Duncan is. However, if I find anything out about him, such as a way to contact him, I'll let him know."

"Thank you," said Booth, "you've been very helpful."

"You're welcome," said the woman, "I hope that nothing happens to Miss Mars."

Booth and Brennan said goodbye to the woman. Then the two of them left and headed back to the lab. "Okay," said Brennan, "I'm going to go and see if Hodgins has come up with anything real quick. What are you going to do?"

"Take Veronica back to the F.B.I building and try and figure out exactly who Amy Anderson's sister is," said Booth, "if we find out anything, I'll let you know."

"Alright then," said Brennan, "I'll see you later."

"Yeah," said Booth, "see you."

Booth headed to Angela's office where he had last left Veronica. "Hey Angela," he said when he headed on inside, "Veronica didn't give you too much trouble, did you? All the evidence is safe and sound and everything?"

"Yes," said Angela, "everything was fine. I actually had her help Zack."

Booth raised an eyebrow at Angela. "Do you really think that is a really good idea?" asked Booth. "Zack can't exactly function when she's around."

"Yeah, well," said Angela, "everything seems to be fine, or at least it was last time that I saw them."

"That's good, I suppose," said Booth, "where is she?"

"Off at lunch with Zack," said Angela.

"At lunch," said Booth, "with Zack?"

"Uh huh," said Angela.

"You know," said Booth, "Veronica will never take an interest in him. At least, not like that. I don't think encouraging this is a good idea."

"Why Booth?" said Angela. "You're not interested in your intern are you?"

"That'd be a no," said Booth without any hesitation, "But you know, partners working together and dating, that's just not a good idea."

"Zack and Veronica aren't partners," said Angela pointedly. She then looked at Booth suspiciously. "This wouldn't be about you and Brennan would it?" Booth was taken aback by this accusation, and actually turned a little red at it.

"Where did that come from?" asked Booth.

"Well," said Angela, "it's very obvious-that is to everyone but Brennan-that you have a thing for Brennan."

"I-I don't-I don't know what you're talking about," said Booth, "Bones and I, we're just partners."

Angela rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say," she said.

"Look do you have any idea where Veronica and Zack are right now?" asked Booth.

"Nope," said Angela.

"Great," said Booth with sarcasm, "I guess I'll just have to sit and wait then."

"You do that," said Angela, "but before you go, I've got the sketch of our victim for you."

"Hey, that's great," said Booth, "why didn't you say so before?"

"Because," said Angela, "you were too busy wondering where Veronica was."

"Right," said Booth, "show me the sketch."

Angela walked over to her desk and grabbed her sketch pad. She showed Booth the sketch once she had it. "You know," said Booth, "that woman looks really familiar."

"You don't know her, do you?" said Angela.

"I don't think so," said Booth, "at least I hope not. But I swear that I've seen her somewhere before…maybe I should go back to the Andersons place. Maybe I saw her in a picture there or something."

"That would be a good idea," said Angela.

Booth looked at the clock on the wall. "Damn it," he muttered, "where are those two? How long can it take to get lunch?"

"You're kidding me, right?" said Angela. "You and Brennan have taken lunches longer than the two of them."

"I just don't like interns canoodling," said Booth.

Angela looked at Booth suspiciously. "Booth," said Angela, "you wouldn't be showing concern for Zack's welfare, would you?"

"No," said Booth, "I just voicing my opinion."

"Uh huh," said Angela.

The door opened in just then, and Veronica and Zack came inside, laughing about something. Booth turned and glared at Veronica. "Hey," he said, "where were you?"

"At lunch," said Veronica.

"Okay," said Booth, "when I tell you to stay in a place, you should stay in that place. What if I needed help on the case or something?"

"Well, you see Booth, there's this new invention and it's called a cell phone," said Veronica, deadpanned, "you use it to call people."

"Very funny," said Booth with sarcasm.

"I'm sorry Booth," said Zack, "It's my fault. I was the one who asked Veronica out to lunch. It won't happen again."

"It had better not," said Booth, "because I don't like it."

"What don't you like?" said Veronica.

"The whatever it is that you two are doing," said Booth.

"Did I or did I not say that I would not take Veronica out to lunch again?" said Zack. "I assure you-"

"I'm not talking about the lunch," said Booth, "I'm talking about the other thing."

"Wow," said Veronica, "Booth's wigging." She looked directly at Angela. "You didn't give him something, did you?"

"Nope," said Angela.

"Right," said Veronica and she turned and looked back at Booth, "well, you can stop with your little freak out now. Remember, we have a case to solve. There's something we're supposed to be doing with it, right?"

"Yeah, yeah," said Booth, "Actually we have to go back to the Anderson house and look at their pictures. Angela's drawing looks like someone, and I think I might have seen them in a picture there. Come on, let's go."

"Sounds good," said Veronica. She then turned to Zack. "Thanks for the lunch."

"You are very welcome," said Zack, "thank you for the help with putting back together the skull."

"You're welcome," thanked Veronica, "anytime you need help with anything, just ask."

"Same," replied Zack.

Veronica and Zack were both smiling at each other, much to Booth's annoyance. "Okay, okay," said Booth, "you can stop that now. Come on Mars. We've got to go and get Brennan. We have places to go, and people to see."

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Bye Angela," she said, "bye Zack."

Booth headed out of Angela's office and Veronica sighed. Angela gave her a sympathetic look, and then Veronica headed out of the office, following him.

Angela looked suspiciously at Zack. "So," she said, "how was lunch?"

"Very good," said Zack, "I liked the meal that I had."

Angela rolled her eyes at that and muttered under her breath, "Sometimes, I swear to god, I am the only normal person around here."

_A/N So there it is, chapter eight. Zack and Veronica bonding makes Booth twitchy. Not for reasons you think, however. I'm actually trying to think of ways for Veronica to make some mischief and get Booth and Brennan together….hopefully I will think of something that won't be a cliché or anything. _


End file.
